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 former Qatari premier Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al-Thani, DawnNews reported.
Irfan Naeem Mangi from the National Accountability Bureau and Brigadier Kamran Khurshid from Military Intelligence reportedly departed for Dubai, from where they later headed towards Doha, it has been learnt.
The duo left a little after 3:00am for Dubai on Emirates Airlines flight EK 615, from where they were scheduled to travel to Doha via another country later in the day.
Reports suggest that they have gone to record responses to the JIT's questions for Sheikh Hamad.
They are expected to return to Islamabad on Wednesday.
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 billionaire'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 prime minister of Qatar from 2007 to 2013, as evidence backing his claims.
The second letter from Al-Thani 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 DawnNews 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 Al-Thani's statement regarding the submission and contents of his letter to the SC in connection with the Panama case.
Correction: This story initially referred to Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al-Thani as a Qatari prince. For purposes of clarity, it has been changed to reflect that Sheikh Hamad was a former prime minister of Qatar.
