Lahore [Pakistan]: Denying that his client had concealed his employment in Dubai based company, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s lawyer, Khawaja Harris has submitted a written reply in the Supreme Court on Saturday, stating that Prime Minister mentioned his Dubai job and Iqama in nomination papers of 2013.
The written reply has details of employment of Prime Minister Sharif at Capital FZE, Dubai-based company and had received an iqama (work permit) from the Gulf. The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) had raised the question after unearthing an offshore company related to the Prime Minister during investigations into the money laundering allegations against the Sharif family during the Panamagate hearings, the Dawn reported.
A three-member bench of the Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Friday concluded the entire hearings and reserved the judgment in the Panamagate case in which Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family are accused of amassing offshore assets. The date of the judgment is yet to be announced and if convicted, Prime Minister Sharif can face disqualification from politics.
“The allegation that the employment with Capital FZE was concealed by the prime minister is totally false,” reads the reply.
A copy of the premier’s passport bearing the work permit was annexed to the 2013 nomination papers, along with a document of his employment at the company, according to the reply.
The documents were attached to the nomination forms as “there was no separate column in the forms for any such information to be provided,” the reply says. Last week, Harris had conceded before the apex court that Nawaz Sharif’s son Hassan Nawaz was the owner of Capital FZE.
He claimed that though the prime minister was the designated chairman of the board, he did not draw any salary.
The JIT, which was investigating allegations of money laundering against the Sharif family, submitted its report to the Supreme Court on July 10 and accused them of concealing the information from tax authorities that involves four apartments in Park Lane area of London and Nawaz Sharif’s job as chairman of Capital FZE before running for the post of prime minister in 2013. (ANI)