Why was Nawaz Sharif disqualified as PM? All you need to know

Pakistan's Supreme Court on Friday disqualified Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after a corruption probe found irregularities in his and his family’s known sources of income and wealth.

In the verdict unanimously handed out by a five-member bench, the top court also disqualified Nawaz Sharif's daughter Maryam Sharif and son-in-law Muhammad Safdar Awan, finance minister Ishaq Dar among others.

Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan said that “Having furnished a false declaration under solvent information, Mian Nawaz Sharif is not honest.”

He further added that Sharif was no longer "eligible to be an honest member of the parliament".

The Supreme Court while referring the case to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), ordered criminal proceedings against Nawaz Sharif and his family members.

The Panama Papers leaks in 2016 had revealed that Sharif's children owned expensive residential property in London through a string of offshore companies.

Nawaz Sharif's lawyers had tried to disassociate his daughter Maryam Sharif from Nielson and Nescoll (two offshore companies listed in the Panama Papers) with whom she was linked.

What the JIT report said

The court had set up a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the matter. The top court's verdict was based on the report submitted by the JIT on July 10 which said that Sharif, his two sons and daughter Maryam Sharif were not able to justify their assets and income.

Another offshore company FZE Capital, which was managed by Nawaz Sharif until 2014, was also discovered. Maryam Sharif was proved to be the beneficial owner of two offshore companies Nielson and Nescoll. Sharif's association with FZE Capital was not disclosed by him earlier.

The report also held Maryam guilty of falsifying evidence before the Supreme Court. It said that Calibri font was used in documents that were showed to be from 2006, whereas the font was not publicly available until January 2007.

Sharif's former accountant and current finance minister Ishaq Dar had submitted documents to the court about how the Sharif family obtained their wealth that included a portfolio of upscale London.