Panamagate probe: Rehman Malik submits ‘conclusive’ evidence to JIT

Claims owning ‘each and every’ word of FIA report compiled in mid-1990s

ISLAMABAD: Former interior minister Rehman Malik on Friday testified before the Panamagate joint investigation team (JIT) tasked by the Supreme Court with probing the Sharif family’s offshore assets.

“Following submission of conclusive evidence I have brought along with me, I think the JIT will not need any more evidence to conclude the ongoing investigations,” Senator Malik claimed after his appearance before the JIT.

He said he had not only confirmed to the JIT “each and every word” of a report he had compiled as additional director-general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in mid-1990s about the Sharif family’s “involvement in money laundering and Hudabiya Paper Mills case”, but he had also produced two separate letters written in this regard to former president Rafiq Tarar.



Earlier, on reaching the Federal Judicial Academy (FJA), the JIT secretariat, at around 2:30pm, the PPP leader told media-persons that he had turned up in his capacity as FIA’s additional director-general who had, along with a team of 10 investigators, completed the report about the Sharif family’s offshore dealings. He also carried briefcases, claiming that they were full of proofs.

The report compiled by the FIA in mid-1990s is already part of the record of the Supreme Court, having been submitted during the Panamagate proceedings.

“My critics were predicting that I would not come from abroad to testify before the JIT but I am here now. Before the JIT, I will own the FIA report and all the letters written to [then] president Tarar… while additional evidence will also be submitted,” he said as he arrived at the FJA.



He also read out the names of 10 FIA investigators who were part of the probe in mid-1990s. The names included Wasim Ahmad, Sajjad Haider, Ahmad Riaz Sheikh, Mohammad Hanif, Basharat Shahzad, Kamran Attaullah, Javed Hasan, Ghulam Asghar Jatoi, Shoukat Ali (late) and Sanaullah.

The senator said that following the compilation of the said report, he and other FIA officers were charge-sheeted, suspended and were finally relieved of service in 1998 during the tenure of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

“If someone says I carried out this investigation in private capacity then it is a false claim as four FIRs had been registered against the accused in this connection and these FIRs are part of the court proceedings,” he said.



He said he would come out of the investigation room after completely satisfying the JIT members, adding that he would answer all questions by the probe team.

Following his appearance before the JIT, Senator Malik reposed his confidence in the conduct of the investigators, calling them ‘professional and competent’.

He rebutted all claims that he had appeared before the JIT to give a statement in favour of the Sharif family under some deal reached with the Pakistan Peoples Party. “I am not here to save anyone,” he said.



The PPP leader said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan was taking credit of the ongoing investigations, but he might have forgotten that it was Rehman Malik who had “prepared the pitch for this match back in the 1990s”.

Initially, the JIT had directed Malik to appear before it on June 17, but the appearance was rescheduled on Malik’s request that he was abroad.

The Supreme Court has already directed the JIT to complete its investigations within the stipulated time period i.e. 60 days and submit a final report on July 10.