PM Nawaz Sharif has no offshore company and a flat in London : Anusha Rehman

Lahore : Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rehman said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had rejected all allegations against him in Panama Papers case and had declared that he had no offshore company and did not own a flat in London.

Addressing a press conference here, she said, “All the allegations against the Prime Minister are merely allegations.”  She said proceedings of the Supreme Court on Panama Papers were being distorted by the opposition. “We have come before the public to put the facts.”

She said name of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was not in the Panama Papers. The PTI lawyer failed to present any evidence in the case, she added. She said the court should investigate the matter of
Panama Papers to ascertain the authenticity of all the baseless allegations. She said as the case was of personal nature, the Attorney General was not representing the government. However, the court could
call the attorney general for its assistance through a notice,otherwise he had no role, she added.

The Minister said the lawyer of prime minister did not raise any objection about maintainability of the petitions. She said due to shortage of time, only the replies of Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Captain (R) Muhammad Safdar were submitted to the court, in which they rejected all the allegations against them.  She said in the reply submitted by the Prime Minister, it was stated that children of the Prime Minister were not dependent on him.

Muhammad Nawaz Sharif had been filing details of his income and assets before the Election Commission every year, Anusha said. She said Imran Khan wanted to give the impression that lawyer of the Prime Minister had raised any objection about the maintainability of the case.
This was contrary to facts and proof of this was that in the interim order of Supreme Court it was stated that Registrar of the Supreme Court himself raised some objections about the maintainability
of petitions, she added.

The Minister said it was unfortunate that after hearing all of the proceedings in the Supreme Court, Imran Khan instead of uttering truth, continued with his lies. She said the legal team went to the
prime minister and told him that objections could be raised about maintainability of the case but the prime minister stopped them from doing it.

This case should be decided as soon as possible so that everything was clear, she remarked.

The Minister said the prime minister while standing on the floor of the National Assembly stated that he presented himself and his family for accountability.

To a question, Anusha Rehman said if hands of Imran Khan were not clean then he should not raise fingers towards others.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister for Human Rights Barrister Zafarullah Khan said the prime minister submitted his reply within 24 hours before the court and presented all the facts.

The legal team of the prime minister did not raise any technical objection, he added.

He said the case in Supreme Court would meet the same fate as happened in the case of allegations of rigging in elections. He said two petitions were filed against Imran Khan in the Supreme Court and
these would be heard on November 7.

He expressed hope that as was done by the prime minister, Imran Khan too would not raise any objection about the maintainability of these petitions and would present himself for accountability.

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif said on every occasion that he was ready for accountability and would fully defend himself as his hands were clean, he added.

Member National Assembly Daniyal Aziz reminded Imran Khan that the issue of Panama Papers came to surface on April 3 and the Prime Minister immediately addressed the nation, went to Parliament and
presented himself for accountability.

After 20 days, the Prime Minister wrote a letter to the Supreme Court, asked for formation of a judicial commission and then formed a committee for terms of reference.

Imran Khan did not take part in all those matters but on August 29 he thought about filing a petition in Supreme Court, he said adding now Supreme Court had decided to form a Judicial Commission which was the same thing done by PML-N government earlier. He said the nation had recognized those who were telling lies and did politics of U turns.

The replies of children of the prime minister would be submitted on Monday in which detailed responses would be given, he said. He said due to wrong statements of Imran Khan and others the
court remarked during the hearing that everybody should refrain from distorting the court proceedings.