ISLAMABAD: Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif Monday vowed to exercise all legal options and decimate the joint investigation team (JIT) report on the Panama Papers issue before the Supreme Court.
"There should be no doubt that we will decimate the allegations levelled in the JIT report while exercising all the options during the legal proceedings in the apex court," he added.
"It is start of the story and we will contest the case at every stage of the legal process," he remarked.
Speaking at a press conference along with other ministers Khawaja Asif said the joint investigation team did not collect any conclusive evidence and mostly relied on source reports from the United Kingdom and Dubai, which were not admissible as evidence in any court of law.
He said the JIT collected no signed document, but only drafts and worthless papers. It failed to produce any counter-evidence to prove its case, he added.
The JIT report, he said, laid emphasis on the statement made by Rehman Malik, which showed lack of quality of its probe.
He said he had expected better performance from the JIT as it consisted of bureaucrats and former officials of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
However, investigation of financial matters was a technical job and the JIT members were not upto the task, he added.
Khawaja Asif said two of the companies mentioned in the JIT report were not even owned by Hassan Nawaz.
He said Hussain Nawaz remitted the money to the account of Nawaz Sharif from the profit shown in the balance sheet audited by a well known international firm so there was no chance of any illegality.
He said as compared to Pakistan, the money laundering and tax evasion laws were very strict in the United Kingdom where the prime minister's sons were doing business.
He said the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz had faith in the Supreme Court as it was the same court for which their party had launched a movement and restored judiciary.
The minister hoped that the Supreme Court would deal with them according to the law and constitution.
He said their lawyers were thoroughly looking into the JIT report for submitting a response before the Supreme Court.
Khawaja Asif reminded that in 2012 he had alleged that Imran Khan invested Zakat money in offshore companies in Muscat and Dubai. Later, Imran Khan incurred loss on that investment and showed it as a loss in the accounts of Shaukat Khannum Cancer Hospital, he added.
He said the PML-N would also take up the case at the forum of parliament, which was a supreme institution and they would be victorious.
He said their party braved political attacks in the past as well. It confronted the military coup of October 12, 1999 and before that its government was removed by Ghulam Ishaq Khan.
"Whenever our mandate was not respected, we came back with greater majority and increased number of voters," he added.
He said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was staying in the office because of the public mandate and it was reflective of the aspirations of the people.
The prime minister enjoyed the trust of both the parliament and the voters, he added.
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