Panamagate: SC asks PM Sharif's son to explain USD 1.9 million in earnings

The Pakistan Supreme Court (SC) has directed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's son Hussain Nawaz to explain how he earned USD 1.9 million which he remitted to his father as a gift in 2011.

Earlier, Sharif's counsel told the court that the Prime Minister had received a gift of USD 1.9 million from his son which was non-taxable, reports the Express Tribune.

To this, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa said, "There are two aspects of the case - first is tax evasion and the second is money laundering."

In his remarks, Justice Khosa observed that people illegally sent money abroad and later some of it was remitted back in the country. He went on to say that now, the premier's son has to provide the money trail of the amount which he remitted to his father.

During the hearing, the judges also referred to former interior minister Rehman Malik's investigation report on "Sharif family's money laundering in 1990s and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's confession statement".

They, however, observed that the report could not meet its logical conclusion as National Accountability Bureau (NAB) did not file an appeal against Lahore High Court's order to quash the reference against the Sharif family in 2014 while adding that the apex court cannot re-investigate the matter under Article 184-3 of the Constitution.

Meanwhile, Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked that the court wanted to see the account number of the Prime Minister wherein he received the money from his son. Justice Gulzar Ahmad also questioned why the gift money was not reflected in the Prime Minister's wealth statement.