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ISLAMABAD: The government has indicated that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will not immediately bring back his family’s foreign investment to the country due to technical reasons.
“Due to laws of foreign countries, bank loans and job security of employees, the Sharif family cannot bring back its offshore investment to the country in the near future,” Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Daniyal Aziz told reporters after a joint press conference with Federal Minister for Capital Administration and Development Division Tariq Fazal Chaudhry.
Asked why the prime minister was not bringing back his wealth from abroad though he urged foreign investors and overseas Pakistanis to make investment in Pakistan, Mr Aziz avoided a direct answer and accused Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan of keeping his wealth outside the country and evading taxes.
Speaking at a press conference, the PML-N leaders rejected another set of documentary evidence presented by the PTI against the Sharif family and termed it ‘contradictory’ to previous stance of the opposition party.
“Today the PTI submitted a set of documents to the Supreme Court which contradicted the party’s own stance in Panama Papers case,” Mr Aziz said.
He said the PTI tried to confuse the apex court as the documents were submitted when the court was about to conclude the case. “If the evidence was so important and relevant, then why the PTI had not submitted it when its lawyers were given time for arguments,” he added.
The court had said in the last hearing that it would hear points of view of the National Accountability Bureau and the Federal Board of Revenue in the next hearing to ascertain the role of the two organisations regarding the Panama Papers scam, he said.
“But today, the PTI submitted piles of documents as delay tactics and to confuse the court,” the legislator said.
He said the new documents carried distorted facts and figures regarding income of Maryam Nawaz, daughter of Prime Minister Sharif, and foreign investment of the Sharif family.
“There is a lot of contradiction between the contents of new papers and the documents earlier submitted by the PTI,” he added.
Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2017
