ISLAMABAD: The Prime Minister and his children have once again shown the door to their legal team and hired new counsel to plead the Panamagate Case in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. It is the second time that the premier and his children have changed their counsel in Panamagate cases.
In a recent development, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is alleged to have established offshore companies in the name of his children to buy property in UK from laundered money, has appointed senior lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan to the case. Sources privy to the development said that the premier’s family and his close aides were unhappy over the arguments of Salman Aslam Butt in the previous hearings of the Panamagate-related petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan.
During the course of previous hearing taken up by the five-judge larger bench headed by then Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, Salman Aslam Butt had told the court that premier’s speeches in parliament after the Panama Leaks were merely political statements.
The top court will take up the matter on Wednesday (today) in fresh petitions due to the reconstitution of five-judge larger bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa. Replacing Butt, senior lawyer Makhdoom Ali Khan will appear before the bench to represent Nawaz Sharif. However, Butt will remain the counsel for Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.
Likewise, the premier’s daughter Maryam Safdar and her husband Captain (r) Muhammad Safdar have also hired the services of senior lawyer Shahid Hamid to plead their case in the same matter. Prior to the new hiring, Advocate Akram Sheikh was pleading the case of premier’s children. Likewise, Salman Akram Raja would appear on behalf of Hassan and Hussain Nawaz, the premier’s sons.
