ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) claims that it has obtained more information and documents which can be presented as “fresh evidence” to prove involvement of the Sharif family in money laundering.

PTI chairman Imran Khan is set to hold two separate news conferences over the next few days to present “more facts” about the Sharif family’s alleged corruption and “new information” about the Hudaibya Paper Mills reference which, the party believes, are sufficient to disqualify Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

“I have always maintained that Panama and Iqama (work permit) were only the tip of the iceberg. Tomorrow (Friday) in my press conference, I will reveal more facts about the ill-gotten wealth/properties stashed abroad by the Sharifs and their corruption mafia,” Mr Khan himself made the announcement through his official page on Twitter.

When contacted, a PTI spokesman said Mr Khan would make new disclosures about the foreign assets owned by the Sharif family members, including Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, at the news conference. He said Mr Khan then again planned to hold another news conference on Jan 4 in which he would present some “new information” about the Hudaibya Papers Mills (HPM) case.

Earlier in the day, Mr Khan consulted senior lawyer and former law minister Babar Awan to discuss options available to his party for seeking reopening of the HPM case which had been closed by the Supreme Court for being time-barred.

Later, Mr Khan said in a statement that after “ouster of Nawaz Sharif from politics”, now it was time for his brother Shahbaz Sharif to go to jail. He said Shahbaz Sharif would not get any relief this time.

The PTI has already constituted a five-member committee under its vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi to decide future course of action in the light of the court’s decision to close the HPM case.

When contacted, PTI information secretary Shaf­qat Mehmood said the party had two options before it — either to force NAB to pursue the case again or to directly take up the matter before the apex court.

When reminded that the court had already declared the matter time-barred, he said that under the law, a closed case could be reopened if any new evidence was found about it. He claimed that the party had obtained “something” that could be considered “fresh evidence” in the HPM case. However, he said, the party was yet to finalise its strategy in this regard.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2017