Panama Papers verdict: Nawaz Sharif disqualified by SC, steps down as Pakistan PM

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Friday disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif over accusations of corruption following the Panama Papers leak. He has stepped down from his post after the verdict.

The case has now been sent to the anti-corruption court for trial. A judge will monitor the implementation of the order.

The court ruled that Sharif had been dishonest to the Parliament and the courts. The removal of Sharif, who was serving his third term in office, comes roughly a year before his term was to end. 

The court also said that all the material collected during a two-month long investigation would be sent to an accountability court within six weeks.

The Joint Investigation Team's report had said that there was a "significant gap/disparity" between the declared sources of income and wealth accumulated by Sharif, his sons Hassan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz and his daughter Maryam Nawaz.

This is the third time that Sharif has failed to complete his term in the chief executive's office. It is unclear as to who would be appointed in place of Sharif to take over the post, till the next general elections in 2018.

Case against Nawaz Sharif

According to Dawn, the JIT found "glaring disparities" between the Sharif family's sources of income and its assets. The report said: "Failure on the part of all respondents to produce the required information confirming 'known sources of income' is prima facie tantamount to not being able to justify assets and the means of income."

The report alleged that there was "irregular movement of huge amounts in shape of loans and gifts" to Sharif's family and Pakistan Based companies from the companies based in Saudi Arabia, UAE and the UK.

Panama Papers

The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. The documents, some of which dated back to the 1970s, belonged to the Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca,were leaked in 2015 by an anonymous source.

The documents contain personal financial information about wealthy individuals and public officials that had previously been kept private. As many as 500 Indian names also made it to the firm's list of people owning offshore assets, foundations and trusts.