Finance Minister Ishaq Dar appears before Panama JIT

“The first notice I received was dated June 28.” Dar said, denying claims that he had been summoned by the JIT thrice before but had failed to appear due to prior commitments.

He claimed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s name had not been mentioned in any case nor in any company documents. He alleged that those whose names are mentioned in such documents, however, were the heads of political parties.

Dar claimed that there has been a spectacle in the country for the past 23 years, adding that certain references that were filed during the rule of former president Pervez Musharraf were based on lies.

“As far as the Panama Papers case is concerned, the PM’s family presented themselves before the JIT but, just as they said, there is no case of even a rupee of corruption or scam,” he alleged.

“As far as the JIT’s credibility is concerned, they will have to prove it. The confessional statement is not written from my hand. The final decision ─ that it has no evidenciary value ─ I did not make that decision. I am telling you that the judiciary made a decision. The prosecutor-general said it has no evidentiary value.”

Dar thunders at Imran Khan
“Imran Khan used to say that from me they will find the money trail to the flats in London. Today, I have given the JIT an account of every rupee.”

“You [Imran Khan] should be ashamed of conducting politics on the basis of lies,” he thundered.

“My love-hate relationship with Imran Khan is very old but now I am disappointed… In 1993, when I was president of the Lahore Chamber after resigning from the Investment Board, he used to come to my office in the chamber as well as my private office. He would sit with my two sons and wait for me.”

Lashing out at the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief, Dar asked “With what face did you file a petition against Nawaz Sharif under Article 62? Look at yourself first.”

“Imran Khan is a scared man basically. A man who hides his marriage. When you ask him where he married Jemimah Khan he says Paris… He’s lying,” Dar alleged.

“Imran Khan, even if no one else knows, I know,” Dar warned. “How much will you lie?”

“Today, how has he become the second richest parliamentarian? He is not the son of an industrialist like Nawaz Sharif. He is three times richer than I am. I am a chartered accountant, I have a value. My juniors in the past 40 years are taking between Rs2 and 2.5 crores a month. A person like me… So how do you have three times the assets?” Dar asked.

“We have presented ourselves for accountability. When will you?”

“In 2008, he [Imran Khan] asked my son for donation for Shaukut Khanum Hospital… When I found out that Khan sahab has gambled with the money given to him through donations and zakat, my trust was broken. I gave him donations from 1997 to 2008,” the finance minister alleged.

“Lets talk about morality… this man has ruined the morality of the youth that supports him,” Dar claimed.

“The Election Commission of Pakistan secretary consulted with him. When they said things that Imran did not agree with, they [PTI] spoke ill about the ECP,” he said.

“Who are you? Who has given you the authority as the chairman of this or that?”

let me give you godd news, Imran Khan said he tax managed his uk company and that is why i put my sisters name there — read the UK law, i am qualified from the UK. The property was in the UK. You had accepted you were the owner, so now prepare to give tax in the UK

This is why the things he says, he should apply to himself first

“The things he says, he should adhere to them first. He should tell us where his loyalties lie. With Pakistan, with Muslims, Jews or Christians.”

“Last year, he was proudly supporting Zac Goldsmith [Jemima’s brother] for mayor and I was supporting Sadiq Khan. Support your brothers and sisters in Pakistan,” he urged Khan.

“Unfortunately, he has not learnt any lessons. He believes that behind every fortune there lies a crime… Unfortunately, his brain is set on one thing ─ He has been restless since the General Election. First there were the dharnas, then he filed this petition.

“It is our misfortune that we bring politics into everything. Pakistan is at a take-off stage right now and i believe the conspiracy to destabilise the country has been hatched by internal and external elements. Khan knows he cannot win the election. Even when Musharraf was in power, he would kiss his feet,” Dar claimed.

“You are a liar today,” he said. “You are an illiterate, cowardly tax thief,” the finance minister alleged.

Dar said that it was hurtful to see Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s daughter, Maryam Nawaz, being summoned by the JIT as she was like a daughter to him. He added that if Khan’s sister’s name had also been mentioned in the documents for Niazi Services and they were summoned as Maryam was, it would hurt him.

He requested the Supreme Court to look into the matter and asked the JIT to revise its decision and send Maryam Nawaz a questionnaire to her house as opposed to asking her to appear before the JIT.

Article source: http://www.suchtv.pk/pakistan/general/item/56188-ishaq-dar-appears-before-panama-case-jit.html