Two members of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) probing allegations of financial impropriety against the Sharif family on Tuesday left for Doha with a questionnaire for Qatari prince Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al-Thani, South Punjab News reported.
Irfan Naeem Mangi from the National Accountabiltiy Bureau and Brigardier Kamran Khurshid from Military Intelligence had reportedly departed for Doha a little after 3:00am to record responses to the JIT's questions for Sheikh Hamad on Qatar Airways flight QR 633, it was learnt.
They were expected to return to Islamabad later the same day.
Media speculations that members of the JIT had already left for Doha had been triggered after it was revealed that only four members of the six-member JIT were present during proceedings earlier today, when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's son, Hussain Nawaz, appeared at the Federal Judicial Academy for questioning for the sixth time.
Earlier reports had speculated that the JIT would send its representatives on July 6.
The need to record the Qatari prince's statement arose when, during hearings of the Panamagate case in the Supreme Court, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's counsel submitted two letters authored by Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al Thani, the emir of Qatar from 2007 to 2013, as evidence backing his claims.
A second letter from the Qatari royal was submitted on January 26 and like the first, which was submitted in court last November, was marked private, confidential and not to be disclosed to any party, except for the benefit of the courts of Pakistan.
In the letter, Al-Thani said the premier's father, Mian Mohammad Sharif, made an investment of approximately 12 million dirhams in the Al-Thani family's real estate business.
The second Qatari letter was also accompanied by transaction details and auditor's reports regarding the Gulf Steel Mills in Dubai and the Azizia Steel Mills in Jeddah.
Earlier in June, a well-placed source told South punjab News that a two-person delegation comprising members of the JIT had filed a request with the Supreme Court registrar to travel to Doha to record the prince's statement regarding the submission and contents of his letter to the SC in connection with the Panama case.
