TOPIC:

PANAMA CORRUPTION CASE

GROUP MEMBERS:
USMAN GHANI FA21-CVE-011
NIAZ WALI FA21-CVE-021
FATAHULLAH FA21-CVE-080
UMER AKRAM FA21-CVE-078
WHAT ARE PANAMA PAPERS?
• Largest leak of secret data and biggest collaborative story in the history of
investigative journalism.
• The size of the leak is a staggering: 2.7 terabytes and more than 11.5 million
pages of leaked documents.
• The Panama Papers give details of 210,000 offshore companies over a 40-
year period.
• Details of companies set up in 21 offshore
jurisdictions, almost half in the BV Islands.

• The ICIJ collaborated with 150 journalists

for the expose; it rose to around 250 after
the story broke on April 4.
THE PANAMA PAPERS CASE
(OFFICIALLY TITLED IMRAN
AHMED KHAN NIAZI V. MIAN
MUHAMMAD NAWAZ SHARIF)
BACKGROUND:
• THE INSTANT CASE WAS TAKEN UP BY IMRAN KHAN, CHAIRMAN OF
P.T.I ALLEGING MONEY LAUNDERING, CORRUPTION AND
CONTRADICTORY STATEMENTS BY MIAN NAWAZ SHARIF
(FORMERLY PRIME MINISTER OF PAKISTAN) IN THE SUPREME
COURT OF PAKISTAN.
• THE LEARNED COURT START HEARING THE INSTANT CASE FROM
1ST NOVEMBER 2016 TO 23 FEBRUARY 2017. ON 23 FEBRUARY 2017
COURT RESERVED THE JUDGMENT AND WHICH WAS LATER
ANNOUNCED THAT A JIT IS BEING FORMED TO INVESTIGATE THE
INVOLVEMENT OF PRIME MINISTER IN CORRUPTION WHICH WAS
DESCRIBED IN PANAMA CASE. JIT SUBMIT HIS REPORT ON 10 JULY
2017 AND SC ANNOUNCED ITS DECISION BY DISQUALIFYING PRIME
MINISTER.
COURT:
SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN

DECIDED:
JULY 28,2017,5 YEARS AGO
 Court membership
Judges sitting Justices

Asif Saeed Khan Khosa

Ejaz Afzal Khan
Gulzar Ahmed
Azmat Saeed
Ijaz-ul-Ahsan
PRIME MINISTER SPEECH:
• IN A TELEVISED ADDRESS TO THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF
PAKISTAN ON MAY 16, 2016, SHARIF SUGGESTED FORMING A
JOINT COMMITTEE TO DRAFT THE TERMS OF REFERENCE
FOR ESTABLISHING A JUDICIAL COMMISSION. HE SAID HE
WAS NOT AFRAID OF ACCOUNTABILITY.
• CAN THEY EXPLAIN BEFORE THE NATION AS TO HOW THEY
EARNED ALL THIS MONEY AND HOW MUCH TAX THEY PAID.
• HE REITERATED THAT THE FLATS HAD BEEN PURCHASED
WITH MONEY EARNED FROM THE SALE OF JEDDAH STEEL
MILLS, WHICH HAD BELONGED TO HIS FATHER.
OPPOSITION RESPONSE:
• FOLLOWING SHARIF'S SPEECH, PTI CHAIRMAN IMRAN
KHAN FILED A PETITION THROUGH COUNSEL NAEEM
BOKHARI WITH THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN ON
29 AUGUST 2016, SEEKING SHARIF'S DISQUALIFICATION
AS PRIME MINISTER AND AS A MEMBER OF THE
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF PAKISTAN. OTHER POLITICAL
LEADERS INCLUDING SHEIKH RASHID AHMED OF
AWAMI MUSLIM LEAGUE, AND SIRAJ-UL-HAQ OF JAMAT-
E-ISLAMI, ALSO EXPRESSED SUPPORT FOR THE
PETITION.
SUPREME COURT INITIAL HEARING:
• The court's initial five-member bench for hearing the case.
• The hearings began 1 November 2016. PTI leader Imran Khan was
represented by Bokhari and Hamid Khan.
• The court also accepted additional petitions filed by other opposition
figures, including Jamaat-e-Islami leader Siraj-ul-Haq and Sheikh Rashid
Ahmad.

Qatari letter:
• On 14 November 2016, Sharif lawyer Sheikh dramatically produced a letter
written by Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani.
 JOINT INVESTIGATION TEAM:
NAME ORGANIZATION POST

WAJID ZIA Federal Investigation Agency Additional Director General

(Immigration)

AMEER AZIZ State Bank of Pakistan Managing Director (NIBAF)

BILAL RASOOLI Securities and Exchange Executive Director

Commission of Pakistan

IRFAN NAEEM MANGI National Accountability Bureau Director General (NAB, Balochistan)

BRIGADIER(R) NAUMAN SAEED Inter-Services Intelligence Director (Internal Security)

BRIGADIER KAMRAN Military Intelligence

KHURSHID
J.I.T REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION:
• DESPITE CONTROVERSIES, ON 10 JULY 2017, JIT
SUBMITTED A 275-PAGE REPORT[50][49] IN THE APEX
COURT. THE REPORT REQUESTED NAB TO FILE A
REFERENCE AGAINST SHARIF, HIS DAUGHTER MARYAM,
AND HIS SONS UNDER SECTION 9 OF NATIONAL
ACCOUNTABILITY ORDINANCE. JIT FOUND THAT SHARIF,
HIS SONS AND HIS DAUGHTER MARYAM NAWAZ COULD
NOT JUSTIFY THEIR INCOME AND ASSETS, ADDING THAT
MARYAM NAWAZ HAD BEEN PROVED THE BENEFICIAL
OWNER OF NIELSEN AND NESCOLL.
FINAL VERDICT:
• Following the JIT report to the court on 10 July 2017, the Supreme Court
began to hear arguments a week later. On 21 July 2017, the court concluded the
hearings and reserved its judgement.On 28 July 2017, the court announced its
unanimous decision and disqualified the Prime Minister from holding public
office, finding that he had been dishonest in not disclosing his employment in
the Dubai-based Capital FZE company in his nomination papers. The court
also ordered National Accountability Bureau to file a reference against Sharif,
his family and his former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, corruption charges.
CONCLUSION:

• Former Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been sentenced to 10

years in prison and fined $10.6 million on corruption charges linked to 2016
Panama Papers revelations about his family’s properties overseas.
• The National Accountability Bureau, Pakistan’s anti-graft court, also has
convicted Sharif’s daughter Maryam to a seven-year prison term and his son-
in-law Muhammad Safdar to one year imprisonment.
• In the wake of the allegations, Sharif was first disqualified from
office in July 2017, then received a lifetime ban from politics in
April 2018.
• One of Sharif’s allies said that the disgraced premier would return
to Pakistan to file an appeal, Reuters reported.
• The convicted have 10 days to appeal the verdict at the Islamabad
High Court.
• In the meantime, political commentators have called the verdict
historic, as it represents the first time a former Pakistani prime
minister has been convicted of corruption.