Reuters , Islamabad :
A Pakistani anti-corruption court on Thursday indicted ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter over allegations linked to ownership of London properties, pressing charges over accusations that could see the former leader jailed.
Nawaz Sharif, 67, resigned in July after the Supreme Court disqualified him from holding office over an undeclared source of income, but the veteran leader maintains his grip on the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.
A Reuters witness in court said Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam, as well as her husband Muhammad Safdar, had all been indicted by a court of the anti-corruption agency, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). They all pleaded not guilty. Maryam and Muhammad Safdar were present in court, but Nawaz Sharif sent a representative while he tends to his ailing wife in Britain as she undergoes cancer treatment.
Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification stemmed from the Panama Papers leaks in 2016 that appeared to show that his daughter and two sons owned offshore holding companies registered in the British Virgin Islands and used them to buy posh flats in London.
The Supreme Court initially declined to dismiss Nawaz Sharif but ordered an investigation into his family’s wealth. After the probe, it disqualified him and ordered the NAB to investigate and conduct a trial.
A separate Supreme Court-appointed panel said the family’s wealth did not match its income, and accused Maryam and her brothers of signing forged documents to obscure ownership of offshore companies used to buy the London flats.
A lawyer for the 67-year-old Sharif, who is currently in London, where his wife is receiving medical treatment, entered a plea of not guilty. The former prime minister’s daughter, Maryam Sharif, and her husband, Mohammad Safdar, attended Thursday’s hearing at the Accountability Court and also pleaded not guilty.
The charges stem from a trove of documents, known as the Panama Papers, that investigators say showed the family held unreported assets overseas. The family has denied any wrongdoing.
Maryam Sharif again denied the allegations as “baseless” after exiting the courtroom. She said her father would return to Pakistan and that they would “face these cases with courage.” The former prime minister is unlikely to be arrested on his return home as the court has already granted bail.
Sharif’s political future has been hanging in balance since July, when the Supreme Court disqualified him from being prime minister.
A senior leader of his party, the Pakistan Muslim League, said “we knew justice would not be done.” Rana Sanaullah said there were “hidden hands” behind Sharif’s dismissal and the spate of corruption allegations, without elaborating.
Sharif was re-elected as party leader earlier this month after parliament approved a bill allowing officials disqualified by courts to hold party offices. The move angered opposition parties, which say Sharif is continuing to rule through a “puppet” prime minister, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
After the indictment, Maryam Nawaz vowed to fight the charges, which she called “a travesty of justice and a mockery of justice.”
“I refuse to accept the charges,” Nawaz told reporters outside the federal courthouse. “We are being denied a fundamental right to justice. I plead not guilty.”
Sharif did not immediately comment from London.
No Pakistani prime minister has completed a full term since the country’s founding in 1947. Sharif had served as prime minister twice in the 1990s.
Sharif repeatedly denied the charges during the Supreme Court proceedings, but offered varying and sometimes contradictory explanations as to how he and his family had financed various properties, especially a group of luxury apartments in London.
