ISLAMABAD (DNA_- Supreme Court has formed Joint Investigation Team to investigate Panama case. The decision was announced 3/2. Two judges Justice Khosa and Justice Gulzar gave dissenting note saying prime minister should be disqualified.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has announced formation of the joint investigation team in the anxiously-awaited verdict of the Panama Papers case, concerning offshore properties of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s family that came to light last year.

Justice Asif Saeed Khosa announced the verdict. The terms of references of the probe body will be devised by the SC. The JIT will decide the matter in a stipulated period of 60 days.

Prime Minister and his sons – Hussain Nawaz and Hassan Nawaz – will appear before the investigation commission,

The controversy erupted with the publication of the Panama Papers last year, 11.5 million secret documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca which documented the offshore dealings of many of the world’s rich and powerful.

Among the global elite implicated were three of Sharif’s four children — his daughter and presumptive political heir Maryam Nawaz, and his sons Hasan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz.

The ruling party Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz insists the wealth was acquired legally through family businesses in Pakistan and the Gulf.

The Supreme Court that took up the case for hearing in October last year, heard arguments from both the sides – opposition and government – and reserved its verdict in February 2017. The court hearings witnessed dramatic statements and happenings that kept the issue in the news since it came to light.

The court has taken such action before, however, holding Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in contempt in 2012 for refusing to re-open corruption investigations into then President Asif Ali Zardari, resulting in his disqualification.