Pakistan Supreme Court disqualifies Nawaz Sharif as Prime Minister [Read judgment]

The Supreme Court of Pakistan today unanimously disqualified Nawaz Sharif as the country’s Prime Minister for his involvement in the Panama Papers scandal..A five-judge bench headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan also disqualified him from being a Member of Parliament..The main point of consideration before the Court was whether Sharif, who was the Chairman of a company called Capital FZE, was required to disclose his salary received in that capacity while filing his nomination papers..Appearing for Sharif, Khawaja Harris Ahmed stated that Sharif never withdrew a salary despite being on the Board of the company. However, the Court came to the conclusion that “a salary not withdrawn would nevertheless be receivable and as such would constitute an asset for all legal and practical purposes”..Further, Sharif’s failure to disclose this fact was a violation of Section 12(2) of the Representation of the People Act. The Court held,.“Where respondent No. 1 did not disclose his aforesaid assets, it would amount to furnishing a false declaration on solemn affirmation in violation of the law mentioned above, therefore, he is not honest in terms of Section 99(1)(f) of the ROPA and Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.”.The Court also requested the Chief Justice to nominate a Supreme Court judge to “supervise and monitor implementation of this judgment in letter and spirit”..The Court further directed the country’s Election Commission to issue a notification to Sharif disqualifying him from being a member of Parliament, thereby ceasing to be Prime Minister of Pakistan..Earlier, the Court had directed the formation of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to investigate whether Sharif and his dependents possessed assets disproportionate to their known income. The JIT submitted a report to the Court finding Sharif guilty of the same..Read the judgment:.Image taken from here.