Capt (R) Safdar submits reply in SC, says Maryam Nawaz has no offshore companies

ISLAMABAD: Capt (R) Safdar on Friday submitted his reply in the Panama Leaks case in the Supreme Court.

He claimed that his wife Maryam Nawaz did not own any offshore account and he had been framed in a fake case by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan.

Capt (R) Safdar stated that his wife Maryam Nawaz regularly filed taxes and had submitted details of her assets in her tax returns. He claimed that he had submitted details of his assets in his nomination papers. Capt (R) Safdar added that Imran Khan had not sent a disqualification reference for him to the speaker of the National Assembly.

In his reply Capt (R) Capt Safdar argued that his disqualification according to article 63 after the elections has limited powers, adding that before the election no one had raised article 62 against him.

He said that questioning his disqualification was violation of article 225 of the constitution.

The Supreme Court has directed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's children – Maryam Nawaz, Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz – to submit their replies by Monday as it resumed hearing of the Panama Leaks case.

The prime minister's lawyer Salman Aslam Butt submitted his written reply in the court on Thursday, stating that Sharif did not own any offshore companies and flats. The reply added that the prime minister's name was not mentioned in the Panama Papers and he regularly submits his asset details in the Election Commission and tax returns to the Federal Board of Revenue.

A five-member larger bench of the apex court led by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali conducted hearing of the case.

The court was irked when the Sharif family lawyer said that replies had yet to be received from Hassan, Hussain, Maryam Nawaz.

Justice Asif Saeed Khosa said that if the replies are not submitted, the court would accept allegations against the prime minister's children. "Can you give a written statement that Maryam Nawaz is not under guardianship of the prime minister?" he said.

The court adjourned the session till Monday, 9:00 AM and directed that the prime minister's children submit their replies in the next hearing.