Scotland Yard drops assault investigation against Nawaz Sharif's guard

• Complaint against guard was made by PTI activist Shayan Ali.
• Investigation closed due to lack of evidence of assault.
• Criminal Duty Solicitor Moeen Khan confirms police found no evidence.

LONDON: Scotland Yard has closed an investigation of assault into one of Nawaz Sharif’s close protection security guards — without taking any further action due to lack of evidence of assault causing actual bodily harm and common assault.

The complaint against close protection guard Farid Nemouchi was made by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) activist Shayan Ali on April 2, 2022, after a scuffle outside Hasan Nawaz Sharif’s office when Nawaz was leaving the office in the afternoon.

Ahsan Dar, whose security company Systematic Security Limited provides guards for the PML-N supremo, confirmed that the investigation has been closed after a thorough probe by the police over a period of six months. 

“The police analysed the footage, did interviews and reviewed everything before concluding that there is no evidence to prosecute Nawaz Sharif’s guard. Obviously, there was politics involved and a campaign was run to get our guard either charged or cautioned to make the news but thank God the police realised what was happening and what the truth is," Dar said. 

Dar said the police will not take any further action. 

“The police have informed us through a letter that no further action against our security guard will be taken. Nothing has been proven against Nawaz Sharif’s guards. Our guards have been provoked and they have come under attack but they have shown professionalism and gone beyond their call of duty to protect Mr Sharif in a professional manner. They will continue to perform their duty to safeguard Mr Sharif at all costs. They have tackled those miscreants who have tried to breach the security ring. Our guard suffered injuries and there is evidence available of that,” said Dar while sharing a letter from the law firm that dealt with the police investigation.

Criminal Duty Solicitor Moeen Khan who dealt with the police case on behalf of Dar’s security firm confirmed the police found no evidence that Nawaz's bodyguards had done anything wrong. 

Moeen said that Nemouchi was called to the Hammersmith Police Station “as a volunteer on 18 October 2022” where he was questioned concerning allegations of assault causing actual bodily harm and common assault.

“After we produced evidence to the police, the police authorities decided to end the investigation without charging or cautioning the guard. The police decided to take no further action. The police have decided that the evidence against the guard is not strong enough for there to be a reasonable chance of conviction or that it is not in the interests of justice to charge you with respect to allegations of assault causing actual bodily harm and common assault," said the lawyer.

Shayan had complained on April 2 that Nawaz's security guards had hit him without any justification as he was standing outside with his mother Sadaf Mumtaz and friends when the guards approached him and violated his rights. He had provided footage to the police which showed the guard hitting him across the face.

Both sides had denied each other’s claims and the police were approached through several emails and other means to investigate the matter. 

Dar had released a picture of the security guard showing him bleeding from the forehead. Shayan and his mother Sadaf were approached for comment.

Originally published in The News