KARACHI: A Dubai-based law firm has verified a document submitted by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to the Supreme Court which says Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was an employee of an offshore company, according to a report published in Khaleej Times on Wednesday.

The law firm, Khalifa bin Huwaidan Advocates, was consulted by the JIT during the investigation it conducted into money laundering allegations against the Sharif family.

The firm submitted a ‘legal opinion’ to the Supreme Court on Monday, Khalifa bin Huwaidan, a lawyer and legal adviser at the firm, told Khaleej Times. “The contract is 100 per cent legal,” he said. His conclusion was based on the copy of the labour contract Mr Sharif had with the Dubai-based company, Capital FZE.

Job contract submitted by JIT termed ‘100 per cent legal’

The company was unearthed by the JIT, formed by the Supreme Court in April after its verdict in the Panama Papers case. In its report submitted to the apex court on July 10, the JIT confirmed that Mr Sharif served as chairman of the board of Capital FZE.

Based on the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) labour laws, Mr Sharif would have received a salary while serving as chairman of the offshore company until 2014, according to the law firm.

The JIT said it had collected evidence directly from the Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority (Jafza), the regulator concerned, which confirmed that the prime minister not only served as the head of the company’s board, but also drew a salary of 10,000 dirhams (about Rs286,000 at today’s rates) from Aug 7, 2006 to April 20, 2014.

The Sharif family has denied the claim.

“Normally businessmen establish companies in Dubai if they want to maintain a visa status in the company but in this case, [Nawaz Sharif] was an employee in a Jafza-based firm,” the lawyer was quoted as saying.

Khawaja Harris Ahmed, the prime minister’s counsel, conceded before the Supreme Court on Tuesday that Mr Sharif’s son, Hassan Nawaz, was the owner of Capital FZE.

Mr Ahmed claimed that though the prime minister was the designated chairman of the board, he did not draw any salary.

Last week, Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal claimed that Mr Sharif was named chairman of Capital FZE in the documents because of some legal issues in acquiring iqama (residency permit) of the UAE.

However, according to the Khaleej Times report, UAE’s labour laws mandated that all employees receive a salary through a bank account under the Wage Protection System, “failing which the firm can be blacklisted and shut down”.

According to the JIT report, Mr Sharif did not disclose that he was the chairman of Capital FZE before running for prime minister.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2017