Panamagate Case: Pak SC disqualifies PM Sharif

In a landmark verdict, the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday declared Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif guilty of illegally accumulating offshore properties and monies beyond his known sources of income and disqualified him from continuing in office.

The apex court issued a unanimous 5-0 verdict and ordered the concerned authorities to immediately file a case against the Prime Minister and forward it to an accountability court.

The apex court bench was headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa.

It maybe recalled that on April 20, Justice Khosa had declared Prime Minister Sharif 'disqualified' for not being honest to the nation. He had also directed the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to issue a notification of the Prime Minister's disqualification, an opinion that was endorsed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court, consisting of Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan had earlier concluded the entire hearings and reserved its judgment in the Panamagate case for July 28 after declaring Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family accused and guilty of amassing offshore assets.

Earlier, a specially constituted six-man Joint Investigating Team (JIT) had been appointed by the Supreme Court to investigate allegations of money laundering against the Sharif family, submitted its report to the Supreme Court on July 10 and accused them of concealing the information from tax authorities that involves four apartments in Park Lane area of London.