In a major political development in Pakistan, the country’s Supreme Court (SC) has “disqualified” Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a unanimous judgment on Friday while delivering its verdict on the Panama Papers case, reported Dawn.
The apex court asked the Election Commission to denotify Nawaz Sharif, reported The Tribune.
According to Dawn, the head of the impeachment bench, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan said that all evidence collected by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) would be sent to an accountability court.
He also said that all cases will be opened against the other accused belonging to his family— Captain Muhammad Safdar, Maryam, Hassan and Hussain Nawaz. Justice Khan also said that the accountability court will deliver its verdict in a month’s time.
The top court also observed that the PM had been “dishonest” to the Parliament.
Mubashir Zaidi for The Hindu reported that two out of the five judges had already disqualified Sharif in April while the other three judges had delayed their ruling and ordered a JIT probe into the case.
Background
The Panama Papers case JIT, formed in light of Pakistan SC's April 20 order to probe Sharif family's money trail, submitted its 60-day investigation report to the court on July 10.
The JIT accused the family of being "untruthful" and "having assets beyond means". The report highlighted the failure of the Sharif family to provide a money trail for its London apartments.
Sharif had denied any wrongdoing after the report also accused his children -- daughter Maryam Nawaz, and sons Hasan and Hussein Nawaz -- of submitting "falsified" documents.
Maryam Nawaz was also accused of signing forged documents to obscure ownership of the two posh London flats, said reports.
In the objections filed before the court, the Sharif family rejected the JIT report and argued that the probe team had exceeded its mandate.
(with IANS inputs)