ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) legal team has begun presenting more evidence before the Supreme Court to prove allegations levelled against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members.

“We have collected a number of new [pieces of] evidence against the prime minister, and a few will be presented before the apex court on Wednesday,” PTI leader Arif Alvi told Dawn after attending a meeting of the party’s legal team, chaired by Imran Khan, at Banigala on Monday.

Asked about the specific proof collected recently, Mr Alvi said he could not share details with the media at this stage, but said they would be presented to the court on Nov 30.

He said the new evidence was related to the purchase of the Sharifs’ London flats.

Legal team meeting urges more aggressive tactics; document from British solicitor submitted to court on Monday

Also on Monday, two days ahead of the next hearing of the Panamagate case, PTI lawyers Naeem Bokhari and Dr Babar Awan submitted an additional document to establish that even in 1999, the Sharif family owned the four Park Lane flats — properties that have become the centre of controversy in this case.

The party also announced it would submit further evidence when the five-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, resumes hearing the case on Nov 30.

The four-page document submitted on Monday was a restraining communication (or ‘caution’) from the solicitor Rob­ert Anthony Kearns of the Al-Towfeek Company for Investment Funds Limited (UK), sent to Her Majesty’s Land Registry, London, in Nov 1999.

The document indicated that since the four flats in question were the subject matter in Al-Towfeek’s case against the Hudabiya Paper Mills Ltd before the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice, their further sale to any party should be avoided.

The solicitor informed the land registry that the High Court of Justice had ordered against the four properties on Nov 5, 1999, adding that though the properties were “not parties to the proceedings, but they are alleged to be vehicles for [Mian Mohammad Shahbaz Sharif, Mian Mohammad Sharif and Mian Mohammad Abbas Sharif] who are the true beneficial owners”.

While deciding the case on the witness statement of Shezi Mackvi, the bench had ordered Shahbaz Sharif to pay the sum of $17,719,315 to Al-Towfeek company, whereas his father Mian Mohammad Sharif was directed to pay over $14m. The order had also held that the three defendants had beneficial interests in the four properties.

But the three children of the prime minister, Maryam, Hassan and Hussain Nawaz, in their statements before the Supreme Court on Nov 15 had explained that they did not own the four Park Lane flats before 2006. Rather, the flats were purchased by the Al-Thani family of former prime minister and foreign minister of Qatar, Hamad bin Jassim bin Javer Al Thani.

The ownership of the properties was secured through two companies, Neilson Enterprises Limited and Nescoll Limited, though the bearer share certificates of the properties were kept by Al-Thani family in Qatar.

Legal team meeting

Newly-appointed PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry, providing details of the Banigala meeting, said the party’s legal team held threadbare discussion on the evidence submitted by the party before the apex court.

“The legal team also reviewed the contradictory statements of the prime minister and his family members and decided to highlight them during the next hearing,” he said.

After the meeting, PTI information secretary Naeemul Haq issued a press release, which stated that the meeting had reviewed some new documents concerning the purchase of flats owned by Nawaz Sharif’s children in London.

“During the meeting, top party leadership told their legal representatives to put PTI’s stand [before] the court aggressively and intelligently, since they have enough evidence against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to send him back home,” the spokesperson said.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2016