PTI chairman Imran Khan.
PHOTO: REUTERS
As the case enters its final round next week, the PTI affidavit rebutted the Sharif family’s claims and explanations put forward by their counsels. The affidavit carries the Qatari prince’s antecedents and details incidents of his personal misconduct.
According to the PTI chief, exchanging huge amounts of money as gifts within the Sharif family – Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s son bestowing upon his father and sister was just a mechanism to whiten undisclosed ‘black money’ owned by the PM himself.
According to Imran’s affidavit, Sheikh Hamad had illegally transferred public funds to private accounts and the Qatari government had opened an inquiry in this regard.
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In 2002, criminal investigations into the conduct of the Qatari Prince was nearing an end and the Sheikh had voluntarily paid £6 million to cover the cost of a probe into the affairs of his three Jersey trusts.
Imran also contended that Sheikh Hamad had also recently been accused of falsely imprisoning a former colleague, the former spokesperson of Qatar between October 2009 and January 2011. He was kept in a private confinement where he was tortured.
“It is this person, who has emerged out of the deep murkiness of his own past to try and lend a tainted helping hand to respondent No1 (Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif) and his offspring,” the affidavit stated.
The PTI chief requested the apex court to ignore both letters allegedly sent by the Qatari prince because they were “unbelievable and (amounted to) a puerile attempt by the rich Qatari to come to the aid of a rich Pakistani and his children”.
Imran stated that there was “no investment in Qatar and since, there was no investment, and there can thus be no investment with the Al Thani family”.
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“There was no settlement as PM Nawaz is categorical in stating that the flats were purchased not acquired through any settlement based on fictitious hearsay statement. However no banking transaction was placed on record either by Sheikh Hamad or the PM. The trust deeds, resulting from a settlement that did not and could not have taken place, are fake or otherwise … with no effect on the actual or beneficial ownership of the flats,” he stated.
Imran contended that till date, no material had been submitted before the court reflecting any banking transaction by the Qatari prince regarding the four flats.
He stated that Sharif family purchased flats “through money laundering” and the PM’s daughter Maryam was and is the beneficial owner.
Imran submitted that the Qatari prince’s first letter was entirely hearsay and urged the court to reject it because after the sale of the Dubai Steel Mills in 1980, the Sharif family could not have had cash for investment in the real estate business of the Qatari family.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 18th, 2017.
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