Panama JIT starts digging

ISLAMABAD – The Joint Investigation Team (JIT), constituted to dig in allegations against the ruling Sharif family, held its first meeting at its secretariat in the Federal Judicial Academy Monday.

Sources said that the six-member team attended the meeting. They said exclusive seating arrangements with state-of-the-art equipment have been made in the main conference room of the secretariat while separate rooms have also been allocated.

Last Friday, a three-member Supreme Court special bench constituted the JIT as a sequel of a verdict handed down by another five-member bench in the Panama leaks case, calling for a further probe into allegations of financial irregularities and money laundering involving the prime minister and his family.

Additional FIA Director General Wajid Zia is leading the team while other members are Brig Kamran Khurshid from the Military Intelligence, Brig Muhammad Nauman Saeed from the Inter-Services Intelligence, Amer Aziz from the State Bank of Pakistan, Bilal Rasool from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and Irfan Naeem Mangi from the National Accountability Bureau.

The court has empowered the JIT to engage local and foreign experts in facilitating the investigation and collecting evidence in line with the letter and spirit of the order passed by the five-member larger bench on April 20.

The court had also directed the federal government to provide the JIT with necessary funds amounting to Rs20 million to start the investigation. Moreover, the court had ruled that the JIT would be at liberty to utilise expertise available at their respective departments or any other departments of federal or provincial governments as and when required.

The court had also directed the interior secretary to ensure necessary security for the secretariat and the JIT members. The court has directed the JIT to complete the investigation in 60 days besides submitting fortnightly progress reports as stipulated in the order.

Source: The Nation