ISLAMABAD, Dec 6 (APP): Pakistan Muslim League (N) leaders Tuesday said Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan would lose Panama Papers case in Supreme Court because he had failed to provide evidence of money laundering and tax evasion by the Sharif family.
Speaking at a press conference here, Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rehman said Imran Khan was giving the impression that judges agreed to the evidence provided by his lawyers in the apex court.
She said Imran Khan repeatedly said that evidence on Panama Papers was provided to the court, however legally the proofs given to the judges were not considered more than rubbish.
Newspaper clippings and a book could not attain the status of primary evidence, she added.
Anusha said Imran Khan did not learn from history as his claim of rigging in elections was also rejected by the Judicial Commission.
The minister said contrary to claims of PTI leadership, there was no contradiction in the statements of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The counsel of PTI Naeem Bukhari was selectively using the evidence provided by lawyers of Sharif family to the court, she added.
Naeem Bukhari himself admitted that he was not a tax lawyer but he continued to read tax statements of Maryam Safdar in the court, she said adding Maryam Safdar was a self-sufficient and independent woman, however, PTI tried to paint a different picture in the court.
She said Maryam Safdar was not dependent on her father, adding since the time Maryam Safdar got married, she was submitting tax returns.
Anusha Rehman said Imran Khan was lying while claiming repeatedly that properties of Sharif family in London were valued at billions of rupees while in reality the cost of the four flats was not more than nine to ten crore rupees.
The minister said the London High Court orders in the Hudaibiya Papers Mills loans acquired through the Al-Towfeek Investment Fund, were issued at a time when Nawaz Sharif and other members of his family were either in jail or under house arrest after the military coup of 1999.
She said the four flats were not a collateral for the loans.
Name of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was not in the Panama Papers, neither he evaded tax nor committed money laundering, she stressed.
Anusha said the lawyers of Sharif family would satisfy the court and provide all the documents, even decades old documents related to their businesses.
While criticising Imran Khan, she said PTI chief could not hide the facts, adding Imran only knew how to take money out of pockets of people.
Member National Assembly Talal Chaudhry said four allegations were levelled against the Sharif family, which provided all the evidence to nullify the accusations.
PTI not only changed the lawyer but also changed its allegations and position and its arguments were reduced to finding contradictions in the statements of Prime Minister, he continued.
He said Imran Khan did not have the evidence, his call for lockdown failed in November and he had become a political orphan.
Imran Khan tried to make the mandate of Nawaz Sharif controversial when he could not compete with him politically, he added.
Talal said Nawaz Sharif fulfilled promises, initiated development projects, curbed terrorism, decreased energy shortages and launched China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
Imran Khan was trying to equate development projects with corruption, he said adding Nawaz Sharif would continue to have the political mileage over Imran Khan due to his agenda of development.
He said Mian Sharif, father of Nawaz Sharif, was a big industrialist and steel manufacturer of Pakistan in the 1960s and earned his wealth with hard work.
Imran Khan should also tell what his family elders did in their lives, he added.
Talal Chaudhry said PTI was trying to prolong the Panama Papers case.
“We are confident about the legality of sources of money earned by our leaders.”
Pervez Musharraf also investigated the same allegations against the Sharif family in the 1990s, he added.
Talal said Imran Khan always did politics of agitation and chaos with the aim to reach corridors of power.
