ISLAMABAD: The joint investigation team (JIT) probing the Sharif family’s financial assets will submit its third and second-last progress report to the Supreme Court today.

The JIT, formed on May 6 in light of the Supreme Court’s April 20 judgment in the Panama case, will submit its report to the court’s special bench formed to oversee the verdict’s implementation.

On June 7, the JIT had submitted its midterm report before the special bench, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh.

The bench had expressed satisfaction with the JIT’s progress in the probe, and reiterated that the investigation has to be completed within the stipulated 60-day period.

Since then, the case was marred in further controversies after the prime minister’s (PM) son, Hussain Nawaz, accused the JIT of deliberately leaking his interrogation picture, and the JIT submitted a report in the court accusing several official quarters, including the PM House, of impeding the probe.

On Tuesday, the special bench dismissed Hussain’s petition asking for an end to the recording of the JIT’s sessions. The judges observed that the videos will not be submitted in court for evidence but will be used to maintain the accuracy of the sessions’ transcripts. At the same hearing, the judges gave the attorney general more time to submit the government’s response to the JIT’s accusations of creating hurdles in its probe.

Since the last progress report, the JIT summoned PM Nawaz Sharif and his brother and Punjab Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Meanwhile, Hussain has been summoned five times by the high-profile probe team while his younger brother, Hassan Nawaz, has appeared twice.

The JIT has also summoned former interior minister Senator Rehman Malik on June 23 and the PM’s son-in-law MNA Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar on June 24.

On May 22, the JIT had submitted its first progress report, at which the bench had also expressed its satisfaction and allowed the investigators to continue their work. During that hearing, a request by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf to make the report public was rejected by the court, which observed that it will do so when it deems necessary.

The six-member JIT comprises its head, Federal Investigation Agency Additional Director Wajid Zia, Amer Aziz of the State Bank of Pakistan, Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan Executive Director Communication Bilal Rasool, Irfan Naeem Mangi of National Accountability Bureau, Brigadier (retd) Nauman Saeed of the Inter-Services Intelligence and Brigadier Kamran Khurshid from the Military Intelligence.

The Federal Judicial Academy in Islamabad has been declared as the secretariat of the JIT.

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