ISLAMABAD: The legal strategy of ruling Sharif family still remains unclear as three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, is going to resume hearing on the Panama Papers case on Monday.
The Joint Investigation Team formed to probe the case submitted its report before the bench last Monday.
Only a day before the Supreme Court hearing, the Sharif family contacted members of their previous legal team that appeared before a five-judge larger bench in the Panamagate case. However, none of its members reportedly is available to plead the case.
Sources said that lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan, who had represented Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during the Panamagate hearings, is engaged in London and Washington and will not be available for the next few weeks.
“Similarly, Shahid Hamid, the counsel for Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Maryam Nawaz and her husband Safdar, is also on general adjournment till August 10 as he is also abroad.
“The family has contacted Salman Akram Raja, but it is yet to be confirmed that he would appear on behalf of Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz on Monday,” a source said.
However, Raja is also scheduled to fly abroad next week. The family has also contacted senior lawyer Khalid Anwar but surprisingly he has not consented to representing any of its member.
Sources claim the family has started contacting its previous legal team on the advice of Khawaja Haris, who is supervising the legal strategy in connection with the JIT report and he is continuously in touch with Premier Sharif and his family for the last two months.
In a related development, the Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) office has submitted transcripts of the speeches of three PML-N leaders – Khawaja Saad Rafique, Talal Chaudhry and Asif Karmani, who allegedly targeted the JIT.
The AGP office has also submitted details of the value of advertisements, which have been given to TV channels since April. It is learnt that a private TV channel got Rs23,028,320 worth of advertisements during the said time.—INP
