ISLAMABAD: The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on the Panama Papers leaks has prepared its first interim report which the Supreme Court (SC) will take up on Monday.

Sources said the JIT, headed by the additional director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), found it difficult to get evidence required to connect the family of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with the Panama Papers scam as most of the required documentations belonged to four countries.

In Pakistan, the available record in connection with the London properties owned by Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz, sons of Mr Sharif, has already been examined by the apex court, and the investigation team also got hold of that record.

However, the sources said the JIT in its progress report, which it was supposed to submit to the apex court after every fortnight, would try to justify its couple of weeks working at its Federal Judicial Academy Secretariat.

Supreme Court to take up the body’s first interim report tomorrow

The report would include statements the JIT has recorded so far and its plan of action such as sending questionnaires to the prime minister, his two sons and Qatri Prince Sheikh Hamaad bin Jasim bin Jaber Al-Thani.

The sources said through the Foreign Office and Pakistan’s embassy in Qatar the JIT was contacting the Qatri prince as well.

The JIT has so far summoned for recording of statements former chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) retired Lt-Gen Munir Hafeez, who was monitoring the investigation of the Hudaibya Paper Mill case, and journalist Umar Cheema, who was in the team of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which investigated the Panama Papers.

According to the sources, the JIT had initially developed 250 questions for the prime minister and his sons but later it dropped some questions.

The questionnaire was prepared in the light of statements by Mr Sharif’s children and his own speeches at the National Assembly as well as the confessional statement of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the Hudaibya Paper Mill case, the sources claimed.

These questions have been designed to answer 13 queries the Supreme Court has directed the JIT to answer in 60 days.

The sources said during Monday’s proceedings the JIT would inform the apex court that it had examined the available record and was going to investigate the prime minister and his sons.

The report, according to the sources, outlined what the JIT had planned to obtain evidence from the four countries - Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and United Kingdom.

As per the terms of reference of the JIT, it would probe how did Gulf Steel Mill come into being, what led to its sale, what happened to its liabilities, how did they reach Jeddah, Qatar and the UK, whether Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz in view of their tender ages had the means in the early ‘90s to possess and purchase the flats and whether the sudden appearance of the letters of the Qatari prince was a myth or a reality. Besides, who, in fact, is the real and beneficial owner of M/s Nielsen Enterprises Limited and Nescoll Limited?

The Supreme Court has empowered the JIT to summon any person, including Mr Sharif and his family, in connection with the investigation. It also allowed the JIT members to hire experts within the country and abroad and visit any country for the collection of evidence.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2017