NAB gets volume 10 of JIT report

Official says NAB relies on documents, procured by JIT, to pursue cases against Sharifs

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has finally obtained the classified part – volume 10 – of the report compiled by a six-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) constituted by the Supreme Court (SC) to investigate into the Sharif family’s offshore assets as revealed by Panama Papers.

In its July 28 verdict in the Panamagate case which resulted in the disqualification of prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the apex court had ordered NAB to file references against the ruling family within six weeks before an accountability court on the basis of the material collected and referred to by the JIT.

The Supreme Court’s registrar office had earlier declined two requests by the anti-graft body to provide certified copies of all the volumes of the report. However, the SC registrar provided NAB with the 415-page volume on the institution’s third request on Thursday.

On July 10, the JIT requested the apex court to keep the said volume confidential as, according to JIT head Wajid Zia, it could help in carrying out further investigations. Later, the Sharif family’s counsel Khawaja Haris had filed an application requesting the SC to make volume 10 public.



However, during the hearing, when the apex court’s three-judge bench – headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan – asked the counsel to examine specific pages of the volume, Haris himself withdrew his request. Details of Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) requests have been mentioned in the volume.

In its volume 1, the JIT said it contacted authorities in six countries for MLA. These included British Virgin Islands’ attorney general, the UK Home Office, Saudi Arabia’s ministry of interior, UAE’s ministry of justice, Switzerland’s Central Authority, and Luxemburg’s prosecutor general.

A senior government official confirmed that NAB had obtained volume 10, adding that it relied on the documents, procured by JIT through MLA, to pursue the matter. However, he strongly rejected the media report that volume 10 provides any financial link between the Sharif family and Indians.

It is also learnt that NAB is still indecisive about filing of an appeal in the apex court against the Lahore High Court (LHC) 2014 verdict that quashed the Hudabiya Paper Mills reference against the ruling family.

In Hudabiya case, filed 17 year back, NAB had claimed that Sharif and his family had received over Rs1 billion ‘through illegal and fraudulent means’ and that they were liable to be tried under anti-corruption laws, reveal documents submitted in the Supreme Court in the Panamagate case.



A senior official in NAB told The Express Tribune that there were very little chances of the anti-graft watchdog filing an appeal in the apex court for the reopening of the case.

The apex court in its July 28 order also observed, “The argument that the JIT overstepped its authority by reopening the case of Hudabiya Paper Mills when Reference No 5 was quashed by the High Court does not appear to be correct as the JIT has simply made recommendations in this behalf which can better be dealt with by this court if and when an appeal, before this court, as has been undertaken by special prosecutor NAB, is filed and a view to the contrary is taken by this court.”

During the hearing, NAB’s Additional Prosecutor General Akbar Tarar had told the bench that NAB was considering the option of filing an appeal in the apex court against the LHC verdict.

Even before the top court’s July 28 verdict, it was reported in the media that NAB had decided to file an appeal and the prosecution team had recommended to approach the SC for reopening of case. However, now it is learnt that NAB has yet to make up its mind to file appeal against the LHC verdict.

Earlier on Wednesday, NAB issued summonses to Nawaz Sharif and his sons Hassan and Hussain to record their statements in relation to inquiries ordered by the Supreme Court in its July 28 verdict.