JIT’s letter delivered to Qatari prince

Sharif family does not file review petition against apex court verdict as 30-day deadline expires

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Embassy in Qatar has delivered to Qatari Prince Hamad Bin Jassim a sealed envelope, possibly bearing a questionnaire from the Joint Investigation Team [JIT] probing the Sharif family’s offshore properties in the light of the Supreme Court’s April 20 verdict in the Panamagate case.

Forwarded through the Foreign Office, the JIT sent the envelope to Prince Jassim as during the Panamagate case hearing, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s legal team had present two letters from the prince in a bid to establish the money trail of the London properties owned by Sharifs.

According to sources, the envelope was delivered to the prince despite interference from Saifur Rehman, a close aide of the Sharif family and the chairman of the defunct Ehtesab Bureau, who first pressured the embassy officials to unseal the envelope and later urged them not to deliver it to the prince at all.

However, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Qatar Shahzad Ahmad refused to act on Rehman’s wishes and delivered the sealed envelop to the prince on Thursday, said the sources.



Saifur Rehman is stationed in Qatar, reportedly tasked with helping the Sharif family with regard to the JIT’s ongoing investigation.

The Sharifs have also engaged their trusted legal aide and former attorney general of Pakistan [AGP] Salman Aslam Butt to manage the affairs related to the involvement of the Qatari prince in the case.

Meanwhile, the Sharif family did not challenge the Panamagate judgment as a 30-day time limit for filing a review petition ended on Saturday.

In the judgment, two senior most members of the five-judge larger bench – Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Gulzar Ahmad – had disqualified the prime minister for dishonesty with the nation and the court. Both judges will be the next chief justices of Pakistan.

The rest of the three judges had, however, ordered the formation of a JIT to probe the offshore proprieties of the ruling family. The same bench, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, will examine the first progress report of the JIT on May 22 [Monday].

Some senior experts say the family still has a couple of days to file review petition as the 30-day time limit starts the day the certified copy of the verdict is received from the registrar office. The experts say the family may file a review petition till Monday [tomorrow].

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah had earlier told the media that a reference to Godfather in the Panama Papers judgment was ‘disturbing’ and that they were considering filing a review petition against such remarks.

The 540-page verdict begins with a quote from Mario Puzo’s novel that says: “Behind every great fortune there is a crime.” The quote is originally attributed to 19th-century French writer Balzac.



Makhdoom Ali Khan, Salman Akram Raja and Shahid Hamid – the top legal experts who represented the Sharifs in the Panamagate case – advised them not to contest the verdict. They even opposed the very idea of approaching the court for expunging Justice Khosa’s remarks, fearing further complications.

Talking to The Express Tribune, PTI lawyer Chaudhry Faisal Hussain said since the Sharif family has not challenged the verdict within 30 days, it means it has accepted the minority judge findings.