ISLAMABAD: While Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday will defend the business concerns of his three children, who own offshore companies, a petition will be filed with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to unseat and launch criminal proceedings against his son-in-law MNA retired Capt Mohammad Safdar for lying and concealing his assets.

Advocate Faisal Hussain Chaudhry told Dawn that as per the nomination papers and latest statement on his assets and liabilities, Capt Safdar had not mentioned the ownership of foreign properties of his spouse, Maryam Safdar, as revealed by the Panama Papers leaks.

Know more: ‘Billionaire PM’ has no assets abroad: ECP

Mr Chaudhry, who is filing the petition on behalf of PTI’s Nawabzada Salahuddin Saeed, said Ms Maryam had been proved the owner of an offshore company and properties in London.

Explore: ‘Panama Papers’ reveal Sharif family’s ‘offshore holdings’

In an earlier petition with the ECP, Mr Saeed had sought the attested copies of the nomination papers and annual returns submitted by Mr Safdar to the ECP.

“According to Section 12(2)(f) of the Representation of the People’s Act 1976, a candidate must make a statement of his assets and liabilities and those of his spouse and dependents on the prescribed form, which Mr Safdar hasn’t as per his nomination papers,” the lawyer said.

Quoting a recent case in the Supreme Court in which PML-N MNA retired Justice Iftikhar Cheema was unseated for not declaring a bank account that he shared with his wife, the lawyer said: “To me it’s a very simple case of concealment of assets.”

Substantiating his argument, Mr Chaudhry said besides the Panama Papers leaks, on more than one occasion Kalsoom Nawaz Sharif and Hussain Nawaz Sharif, the mother and brother of Ms Maryam, had on record talked about assets owned by her. He said there was a settled principle of law that non-denial amounted to admission which would be the base of the petition.

Mr Saeed lost the 2013 election from NA-21 (Mansehra) to Mr Safdar with the latter securing 90,408 votes followed by Laiq Mohammad Khan of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI-F) with 42,980 votes. Mr Saeed bagged 25,491 votes.

Under the law, all legislators are required to submit an annual statement of assets and liabilities of their own and their spouses and dependents to the ECP.

In his statement of assets for the 2015 fiscal year, Mr Safdar mentioned a 4800cc BMW car gifted to his spouse by an unidentified individual in the United Arab Emirates. He did not mention any other assets belonging to her within or outside the country.

He showed foreign remittances of Rs2 million from the sale of his personal vehicle in Saudi Arabia, and his sole bank account apparently reflects this amount.

Mr Safdar owns four properties in Islamabad, Mansehra and Rajanpur. He has not mentioned the market value or cost of two properties - around 100 kanals of agricultural land in Mansehra and over 215 acres of “barren” land in Rajanpur.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2016