Refusing to accept a string a raft of blistering corruption accusations by a Supreme Court-mandated probe team, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is in no mood to listen to the Opposition calls to quit the office.
Sharif’s team of ministers including Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, who along with the Sharif family faces serious allegations of a role in offshoring hidden wealth, defended the ruling family against allegations.
On Monday, the Joint Investigation Team issued its findings, asking the National Accountability Bureau to file a reference against the prime minister.
Nawaz Sharif is accused of owning directly and indirectly flats in London, an offshore company and then failing to make full disclosure of wealth to the Election Commission of Pakistan. The revelations about the Sharif’s offshore wealth stem from the Panama Newspapers and are called in Pakistan as the Panamagate scandal.
His children and son-in-law also face accusations.
The Supreme Court in a damning judgement this summer had compared Nawaz Sharif’s wealth and dubious wheeling and dealing ways to a Godfather’s empire.
Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif, who is chief minister of the largest Punjab province, have ruled the country intermittently for several years since 1980s.
Opposition leaders including Imran Khan of Pakistan Tehreek e Insaaf have been asking Sharif to quit on moral and legal grounds. This is the third time Nawaz Sharif is serving as prime minister.
