Senior PML-N ministers addressed a press conference Tuesday evening in an effort to counter rising political pressure on the bigwigs of the ruling party.
The crux of the PML-N’s message was that the Supreme Court-sanctioned joint investigation team (JIT) that had investigated the Sharif family’s business dealings had submitted a flawed report, which would be challenged in court. One minister went so far as to term the report a product of a wide-ranging conspiracy, alleging that the strings were being pulled by unnamed actors — some of them abroad.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar opened the press conference with a suggestion for concerned parties to exercise restraint.
“Yesterday, the Supreme Court took notice of what is being said in the media about the case. Everyone should show patience like we have,” he said.
“The JIT report is not final,” he continued.
“There are significant gaps in the report, as much as we have seen it. There are photocopies [included in the report], some of which are not signed and which the JIT itself asks the Supreme Court to determine whether they hold any evidentiary value.”
The minister also remarked that the report doesn’t prove Nawaz Sharif’s ownership of any off-shore company.
“While our [legal team] team is working [on the report], I am putting my portion in front of you right now,” the finance minister recalled.
Dar proceeded to recount his experience with the JIT, claiming he only found out on July 3 that his tax returns from 1981-2002 had not been provided to the team by the Federal Bureau of Revenue.
“I told them that I will take disciplinary action against those who did not provide you with the requisite documents and I will send you the documents,” he claimed to have told the JIT.
“I told them that my tax guy had told me that after Gen Musharraf’s coup, my tax record had been seized by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). I told them that NAB is your institution and you should find it; and if you cannot find it then I will find it on my own. I retrieved my tax records and sent them my returns from 2003-7 immediately on the same day,” he claimed.
“At 8.55pm, they were delivered to the JIT. I have the receipt,” he claimed.
The finance minister then detailed his ‘hectic efforts’ to dig out old records from NAB’s Lahore and Islamabad offices and send the same to the FBR.
Dar proceeded to contradict each of the conclusions drawn by the JIT after interrogating him, insisting that all his wealth can be traced and his statements audited.
“I challenge them that my record will be reconciled till the last penny,” he claimed.
Railways Minister Saad Rafique took the mic next, starting his bit by saying that the JIT should have presented anything they had against each respondent to the accused individuals.
