ISLAMABAD: A five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and ordered to file reference against Maryam Nawaz, Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz, Ishaq Dar and Capt Safdar in NAB court in its verdict in the Panama Papers case on Friday.
Justice Asif Saeed Khosa who heaeded the five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court announced the historic judgement in courtroom No 1.
The court ordered the prime minister to immediately leave the PM office.
The court also ordered the National Accountability Bureau to file the reference in an accountability court in six weeks and wrap up the case within six months.
The reference will also be filed against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, MNA Capt (retd) Safdar, the premier’s family.
The bench comprised Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed, and Justice Ijazul Ahsan.
Opposition parties including PTI and PPP welcomed the court decision and distributed sweets.
Earlier, a three-member implementation bench of the the Supreme Court had concluded the hearings in the Panama Papers case and reserved its judgement on July 21.
The five-judge bench on April 20 ruled there was insurgents evidence to order Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s removal from office over corruption allegations levelled by the opposition, but it ordered further investigations.
Two of five judges on the court bench recommended Sharif should step down, saying he was dishonest “to the nation as well as to the parliament”, but they were out voted.
Presenting its 549-page judgment, the court ordered a joint investigation team be formed to look into allegations around three of Sharif’s four children using offshore companies to buy properties in London.
The team had two months to complete its inquiry. The court said in a ruling that opened with the epigraph from Mario Puzo’s novel “The Godfather”: “Behind every great fortune there is a crime”.
The prime minister and his children deny any wrongdoing.
