By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan
The Supreme Court of Pakistan will announce its much-awaited ruling in the Panama leaks scandal involving Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family on Thursday, according to the court’s schedule list on Wednesday.
A five-member bench of the apex court led by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa will announce the judgment at 2 p.m. local time (0900GMT) in the capital Islamabad.
The court had reserved its ruling in the case in February after an over four-month long hearing.
The Supreme Court had accepted four separate petitions in September 2016 filed by politicians Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI), Jamat-e-Islami Chief Siraj-ul-Haq and others seeking Sharif’s disqualification from office.
Sharif, who is serving as premier for the third term, has lately come under immense pressure from the opposition and the media after the Panama Papers were leaked last year, which revealed that his two sons -- Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz -- and daughter Mariyam Nawaz owned offshore companies.
The premier maintains his innocence and has rejected all accusations of financial irregularities against him. He has repeatedly said that all transactions made by his family members were fair and in accordance with the country’s laws.
The judges, however, did not seem to be satisfied with the money trail provided by Sharif’s lawyers or with the supposed proof presented by the opposition during the months-long hearing.
In April 2016, Sharif's eldest son, Hussain Nawaz, admitted in an interview with a local Pakistan channel that his family owned the offshore companies and controversial flats in London.
He had insisted the transactions were all legal and refused to make his assets public, claiming that such a move could harm his business interests.
Sharif came to power for a third term following his right-wing Pakistan Muslim League Party’s landslide victory in the 2013 elections. His previous two terms as prime minister had ended prematurely under pressure from the Pakistani military.
The documents released by Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in April last year pointed fingers at 140 politicians worldwide, among them 11 current and former national leaders, claiming they worked with Mossack Fonseca to establish shadow companies for global transactions and money laundering.
Their revelation sent shockwaves across the world, resulting in the resignation of Iceland’s Premier Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and political pressure on the then British Prime Minister, David Cameron, who later admitted to having a profitable stake in a fund owned by his father.
Possible scenarios
Observers say the fate of Sharif’s third term hangs in the balance as the apex court prepares to announce its verdict.
Opinion polls predict possible scenarios following the verdict, which the apex court itself has said would be “historic”.
According to a survey conducted by Gallop Pakistan, 31 percent of Pakistanis believe the judgment will neither be against or in favor of the prime minister.
Some 24 percent think the verdict will be against Sharif, whereas 21 percent are of the view the prime minster will get a clean chit from the court.
According to legal experts, the possible verdicts could be: apex court may constitute a judicial commission to investigate the charges and ask Sharif to step down until proven not guilty; or judges may ask the country’s anti-corruption authorities to take steps;or the election commission or parliament speaker may be asked to decide on Sharif’s qualification as a parliamentarian; or the court will simply disqualify Sharif, which may lead to early elections in the country.
“All these possibilities are there,” Ismat Mehdi, a Karachi-based senior lawyer, told Anadolu Agency.
"It will be a landmark judgment, am quite sure about that. It will open the gate for nabbing the corrupt and the dishonest in Pakistan,” Mehdi said.
“If I go by the hearing of the case, which I have closely observed, then, in my opinion, the judges remained thirsty for proofs from Sharif about legitimacy of the money trail. But definitely, it’s up to the judges to give a final word on that,” she added.
Both the government and the opposition parties have already declared that they would accept the apex court’s judgment, whatever it may be.
“The Supreme Court’s judgment will be historic. It will end the politics of fraud and lies in the country,” PTI spokesman Naeem-ul-Haq told reporters.
Information Minister Maryam Aurungzeb said Sharif had no fear over the apex court’s verdict.
“Prime minister has not concealed anything. He is very much relaxed. Only those whose politics is based on this case, are awaiting the judgment,” Aurungzeb told a press conference on Monday referring to opposition parties.
