Never owned London properties: Nawaz Sharif

Former Pakistan's prime minister Nawaz Sharif has reiterated that he had never owned properties in London.

Testifying before Pakistan's Accountability Court, wherein Sharif, his sons Hasan and Hussain, daughter Maryam, son-in-law Capt (retd) Mohammad Safdar and former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar are facing multiple corruption cases, the former Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) chief on Monday also refuted the money trail linking his son Hussain Nawaz to the apartments.

The responses came in reply to the 128 questions put to him. The questionnaire has multiple about four apartments in Park Lane, Avenfield, London, sale proceed of Gulf Steel Mills (GSM), shares of Ahli Steel Mills, investment with Qatari royals, clearance of GSM's liabilities, litigation with Al-Tawfeek Investment and offshore companies Nielson and Nescoll.

He said he was neither the real owner of the Avenfield apartments nor were these his benami properties.

When asked about the Gulf Steel Mills (GSM) in Dubai, he denied his involvement in setting up the GSM, saying, other than participating in its opening ceremony in 1974, he was never involved in any activity related to the mill.

During the questioning session with the judge Mohammad Bashir, the deposed prime minister accused the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) for reporting selective evidence and portions from the witnesses' statements.

He also criticised the inclusion of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) in the JIT, claiming that the JIT members are biased.

The former prime minister could respond to 55 of the 128 questions. The judge adjourned the proceedings till May 22.

The Pakistan Supreme Court, on July 28, disqualified Sharif from holding the office of the prime minister and asked the National Accountability Bureau to file references against the Sharif family in connection with corruption cases against them.

On the orders of the country's Supreme Court, the JIT was formed last year to probe the allegations on the Sharif family.