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The powerful six-member Joint Investigation Team (JIT) tasked with probing the business dealings of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his sons abroad is entering a crucial stage, with the investigation heading towards conclusion.
Sources told Dawn the JIT was in the process of winding up the probe by next week, after which it would finish compiling the final investigation report by the second week of July before it was submitted to the apex court by the July 10 deadline.
On Saturday, the JIT in its meeting reviewed the documents pertaining to the business and tax records of the Sharif family that were submitted by Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
In this regard, the JIT is summoning members of the Sharif family once again. The premier's cousin Tariq Shafi will appear before the high-powered JIT on Sunday, when insiders said he will be re-examined over his statements recorded during his earlier appearance before the body.
And on Monday, the JIT consisting of members from SECP, National Accountability Bureau, State Bank of Pakistan, Military Intelligence, Inter-Services Intelligence and Federal Investigation Agency, has summoned Hussain Nawaz, the prime minister's elder son.
Hassan Nawaz and Maryam Nawaz will appear before the body on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, in what officials said will be the concluding week of the JIT tasked with collecting evidence within two months.
Insiders told DawnNews that the JIT summoned members of Sharif family for the second time after investigators found contrast between statements recorded by them and the documents submitted by relevant government departments.
The JIT was formed by the Supreme Court after its verdict on the Panama Papers case was split 3-2 among a five-judge bench, with the two dissenting notes in the judgment authored by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Gulzar Ahmed.
The two judges had ruled against Sharif, saying he should be disqualified, whereas the other three were in favour of forming a JIT.
Despite the hype over the JIT and its ongoing investigations, legal and investigation experts feel the report, once it is presented to the court, will simply be the beginning of a long process.
Legal experts feel that the JIT’s report, once it is completed, may lead to further hearings.
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team probing alleged record tampering by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) finished its work on Friday after spending over two hours with the IT department of the corporate sector regulator.
The four-member FIA team, headed by Anti-Corruption Wing Director Maqsoodul Hassan, started its investigations after working hours on Friday, June 23, and ended its work on the SECP premises late on Friday, June 30.
After quizzing several SECP executives and holding meetings with the commission’s senior management, the FIA team spent their final hours in the IT department.
There were rumours that certain hardware, including the laptop issued to SECP Chairman Zafar Hijazi, had also been confiscated. However, this impression was denied by a senior SECP official.
A senior SECP executive told Dawn that to ensure the security of data on the whole network, the SECP had several backup servers.
“The software operates from abroad and the data is protected at five levels,” the official said. “The FIA personnel took email records of several executives who were investigated earlier, while the option to delete previous records has been blocked in the emails of many officers.”
The FIA team was established on the directives of the apex court when the JIT alleged that the SECP was involved in record-tampering.
Meanwhile, sources in the FIA said that several proofs of tampering had been collected from the SECP, some of which had even been acknowledged by mid-level and senior officers of the Commission.
“They have all acknowledged that the closing note in the case of the Chaudhry Sugar Mills was penned in 2016 in the office of SECP Chairman Zafar Hijazi retroactively. This may not be a serious crime, but it also proves harassment of employees because they were made to sign it under duress,” the official added.
The closing note was made by Maheen Fatima, the officer assigned to the money laundering case involving the Chaudhry Sugar Mills, while it was signed by Ali Azeem, the head of the enforcement department in 2013.
However, there was no mention of Tahir Mahmood, who was acting SECP chairman in 2013 and is the current commissioner of the Company Law Division, an FIA source said.
“This is contrary to the written reply given by the SECP to the Supreme Court,” the FIA official confided.
The SECP reply stated that SECP chairman Hijazi received a briefing by the officer concerned on the issue, Ms Fatima, in the presence of Commissioner Tahir Mahmood and was informed that the matter had already been concluded and the request letter sent to UK authorities for a probe in the case was withdrawn in 2013.
The SECP response to the Supreme Court further stated that the current chairman was appointed long after the matter was closed by the respective officers.
Meanwhile, sources in the investigation agency confided that the team had unearthed new evidence of record tampering in the documentation of Hudabiya Sugar Mills and other entities owned by the Sharif family.
“But this evidence, which is related to change in the name of directors without following the due procedure, is being scrutinised,” the official said, adding: “These misdeeds are being exposed with the help of moles inside the commission.”
The FIA is likely to finalise and submit its report to the JIT tomorrow (Monday).
SECP closed money laundering investigations against Sugar Mill of Sharifs after PMLN won elections in May 2013! JIT informed by SECP
Sources told Dawn the JIT was in the process of winding up the probe by next week, after which it would finish compiling the final investigation report by the second week of July before it was submitted to the apex court by the July 10 deadline.
On Saturday, the JIT in its meeting reviewed the documents pertaining to the business and tax records of the Sharif family that were submitted by Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
In this regard, the JIT is summoning members of the Sharif family once again. The premier's cousin Tariq Shafi will appear before the high-powered JIT on Sunday, when insiders said he will be re-examined over his statements recorded during his earlier appearance before the body.
And on Monday, the JIT consisting of members from SECP, National Accountability Bureau, State Bank of Pakistan, Military Intelligence, Inter-Services Intelligence and Federal Investigation Agency, has summoned Hussain Nawaz, the prime minister's elder son.
Hassan Nawaz and Maryam Nawaz will appear before the body on Tuesday and Wednesday respectively, in what officials said will be the concluding week of the JIT tasked with collecting evidence within two months.
Insiders told DawnNews that the JIT summoned members of Sharif family for the second time after investigators found contrast between statements recorded by them and the documents submitted by relevant government departments.
The JIT was formed by the Supreme Court after its verdict on the Panama Papers case was split 3-2 among a five-judge bench, with the two dissenting notes in the judgment authored by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Gulzar Ahmed.
The two judges had ruled against Sharif, saying he should be disqualified, whereas the other three were in favour of forming a JIT.
Despite the hype over the JIT and its ongoing investigations, legal and investigation experts feel the report, once it is presented to the court, will simply be the beginning of a long process.
Legal experts feel that the JIT’s report, once it is completed, may lead to further hearings.
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) team probing alleged record tampering by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) finished its work on Friday after spending over two hours with the IT department of the corporate sector regulator.
The four-member FIA team, headed by Anti-Corruption Wing Director Maqsoodul Hassan, started its investigations after working hours on Friday, June 23, and ended its work on the SECP premises late on Friday, June 30.
After quizzing several SECP executives and holding meetings with the commission’s senior management, the FIA team spent their final hours in the IT department.
There were rumours that certain hardware, including the laptop issued to SECP Chairman Zafar Hijazi, had also been confiscated. However, this impression was denied by a senior SECP official.
A senior SECP executive told Dawn that to ensure the security of data on the whole network, the SECP had several backup servers.
“The software operates from abroad and the data is protected at five levels,” the official said. “The FIA personnel took email records of several executives who were investigated earlier, while the option to delete previous records has been blocked in the emails of many officers.”
The FIA team was established on the directives of the apex court when the JIT alleged that the SECP was involved in record-tampering.
Meanwhile, sources in the FIA said that several proofs of tampering had been collected from the SECP, some of which had even been acknowledged by mid-level and senior officers of the Commission.
“They have all acknowledged that the closing note in the case of the Chaudhry Sugar Mills was penned in 2016 in the office of SECP Chairman Zafar Hijazi retroactively. This may not be a serious crime, but it also proves harassment of employees because they were made to sign it under duress,” the official added.
The closing note was made by Maheen Fatima, the officer assigned to the money laundering case involving the Chaudhry Sugar Mills, while it was signed by Ali Azeem, the head of the enforcement department in 2013.
However, there was no mention of Tahir Mahmood, who was acting SECP chairman in 2013 and is the current commissioner of the Company Law Division, an FIA source said.
“This is contrary to the written reply given by the SECP to the Supreme Court,” the FIA official confided.
The SECP reply stated that SECP chairman Hijazi received a briefing by the officer concerned on the issue, Ms Fatima, in the presence of Commissioner Tahir Mahmood and was informed that the matter had already been concluded and the request letter sent to UK authorities for a probe in the case was withdrawn in 2013.
The SECP response to the Supreme Court further stated that the current chairman was appointed long after the matter was closed by the respective officers.
Meanwhile, sources in the investigation agency confided that the team had unearthed new evidence of record tampering in the documentation of Hudabiya Sugar Mills and other entities owned by the Sharif family.
“But this evidence, which is related to change in the name of directors without following the due procedure, is being scrutinised,” the official said, adding: “These misdeeds are being exposed with the help of moles inside the commission.”
The FIA is likely to finalise and submit its report to the JIT tomorrow (Monday).
SECP closed money laundering investigations against Sugar Mill of Sharifs after PMLN won elections in May 2013! JIT informed by SECP