Pak SC rejects petition of Nawaz Sharif's son against Panamagate JIT

The Pakistan's Supreme Court on Monday rejected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's son Hussain Nawaz's petition against two members of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) tasked to probe the Sharif family's offshore assets.

The three-member bench, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, heard Hussain Nawaz's petition against the alleged bias of Amer Aziz and Bilal Rasool, who represent the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), respectively, in the six-member JIT, Geo News reported.

Justice Ejaz said that no JIT member will be replaced without solid evidence whereas Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh referring to points raised in the petition observed that one person cannot influence the entire team.

Hussain in his five-page plea with the top court had said that the JIT member Bilal Rasool, is the nephew of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Mian Azhar. Azhar, a former governor of Punjab, was originally affiliated with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz but later joined the PML-Q and then PTI.

Hussain said that Bilal also frequently speaks against the ruling PML-N government despite being a public servant.

The move came a day after Hussain appeared before the Supreme Court-appointed JIT to record his statement in the ongoing Panamagate probe at the Federal Judicial Academy.

The JIT has to conclude and complete its investigations in Panamagate case within the allotted 60-day period.