Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif appeared before the Panama case Joint Investigation Team (JIT) on Saturday. Shehbaz Sharif is the fourth member of the Sharif family to appear before the JIT.
After his scheduled appearance, the Punjab chief minister spoke to the media outside the Federal Judicial Academy and told journalists that he had been summoned by the JIT to appear before them ‘as someone acquainted with the facts of Panama case.
“I have recorded my statement,” he told journalists before adding that “two days earlier the prime minister appeared before this JIT and it was for the first time that an elected prime minister appeared before a JIT to present his stance.”
“Today perhaps this is for the first time in history that a chief minister has appeared before JIT,” Shehbaz told journalists.
He told journalists that the prime minister’s actions and his own clearly show the difference between how much respect the judiciary is given by military dictators and elected officials.
“I also have a history of back pain but did not use that as an excuse. I did not go and get admitted in Rawalpindi Medical Institute nor did I go to London. The apex court constituted the committee and I presented my stance before them.”
The Punjab chief minister stressed before the media that this was not the first time the Sharif family was being held accountable. “This is the fifth time we have been called in for accountability, for which we have always been ready to present ourselves,” he said. “But has any case of embezzlement surfaced against us in these five times.”
The chief minister arrived at the Federal Judicial Academy at approximately 11am flanked by his son Hamza Shehbaz, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan.
Initially, when Shehbaz Sharif departed from the Punjab House he was riding in a white land cruiser driven by Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan which was followed by another black SUV.
However, when the vehicles arrived at the Federal Judicial Academy the chief minister was still riding in the white SUV but instead of Chaudhry Nisar, Hamza Shehbaz was in the driving seat.
According to sources, the vehicles stopped twice while en route to the Federal Judicial Academy and it was during these unscheduled stops that the seating arrangement was changed.
