Sharif family to answer questions about assets before commission

 

ISLAMABAD: The name of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif doesn't figure in the much-talked-about 1998/99 UK high court case of the loan default of Al-Towfeek Investment Fund Limited verses Hudabiya Papers Mills, which is owned by the Sharif family, documents establish.

The four defendants in the case were Hudabiya Paper Mills Limited, Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Mian Muhammad Sharif and Mian Muhammad Abbas Sharif.Not only this, documents of ownership of all the Park Lane flats as well as that of offshore companies have no mention of the name of the prime minister at any stage or at any point of time.

The riddle of the offshore companies allegedly owned by the family of the prime minister as claimed by the Panama Papers, when read with the official record of the UK government regarding the ownership/land registry of Park Lane flats since early 1990s obtained by The News and the 1999 judgments of UK high court, helps understand the story to some extent.

Hussain Nawaz, the son of the prime minister, has told the media in his repeated statements that only after selling a steel mill in Saudia Arabia in 2006, he bought two offshore companies — Nielsen Enterprises Limited and Nescoll Limited — and then purchased flats number 16, 17, 17A of Park Lane, London, in the names of these offshore companies. He said that he or any member of his family never owned these offshore companies before 2006. In an interview, he also stated that there was no flat 16A on the above-mentioned address in the name of his family.

According to the UK government official documents obtained by The News, following are the details of these flats and their ownership since 1993.Flat 16, Avenfield House, Park Lane, London, Registered Owner: NIELSEN ENTERPRISES LIMITED care of Messrs Dibb Lupton Broomhead (reference LJR), 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AE. Title Number: NGL338285. The flat was registered in the name of Nielsen on July 31, 1995. The official documents say that the flat only comprises a portion on the 3rd floor of the building.

Flat 16A, Avenfield House, Park Lane, London, Registered Owner: NIELSEN ENTERPRISES LIMITED care of Messrs Dibb Lupton Broomhead (reference LJR), 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AE. Title Number: NGL351184. The flat was registered in the name of Nielsen on July 31, 1995. The official documents say that the flat only comprises the portion on the 3rd floor of the building.

Flat 17, Avenfield House, Park Lane, London, Registered Owner: NESCOLL LIMITED care of Dibb Lupton Broomhead, of 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AE. Title Number: NGL342976. The flat was registered in the name of Nescoll on June 1, 1993. The official documents say that the flat only comprises a portion on the 3rd floor of the building and property was made in 1978.

Flat 17A, Avenfield House, Park Lane, London, Registered Owner: NESCOLL LIMITED care of Dibb Lupton Broomhead, of 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AE. Title Number: NGL342977. The flat was registered in the name of Nescol on July 23, 1996.

The UK high court decisions in Hudabiya Papers Mills loan default case on March 16, 1999 and November 5, 1999 show that for the loan acquired by Hudabiya on February 15, 1995, Flat 16, Flat 16A, Flat 17, Flat 17A were pledged with the Al Towfeek Investment Fund Limited.

The judgments and the court documents of Lahore High Court (LHC) available with The News as well as some NAB documents show that the Hudabiya Papers Mills is owned by the Sharif family with almost all the members of family as its directors.

So the question arises if the offshore companies Nielsen and Nescoll own these Park Lane London flats since 1993, how the Sharif family pledged the flats to a UK bank in 1995 to obtain a financial facility without owning the offshore companies, the real owners of these flats at that time as per the official documents of the UK government.

This question becomes important keeping in view the repeated statements of Hussain Nawaz, official statements of the government made by federal ministers and Daniyal Aziz that these offshore companies and the flats were only bought in 2006 after the Sharif family sold a steel mill in Jeddah.

The government spokesman also added that no member of the Sharif family even owned any of these offshore companies before 2006. A reputed UK newspaper The Guardian had quoted Kalsoom Nawaz on April 10, 2000 that her family “bought” these Park Lane flats for the education of children. Khalid Anwar, the-then law minister during Nawaz Sharif’s second tenure as the prime minister, however, has stated that the Sharif family has taken these flats on rent.

Replying to this question, a government spokesman said that the Sharif family has answers to all the questions which will be presented before the judicial commission and the whole nation will be satisfied with the answers and explanation of the facts.—Originally published in The News