Pakistani PM awarded court reprieve over corruption case

Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s prime minister, has been given a temporary reprieve by the country’s supreme court, as judges ordered a further investigation into alleged corruption in a case which has threatened to topple his government.

The five judges on the panel ordered the creation of a special investigation panel explore allegations about the Sharif family’s financial affairs which were revealed in the leaked Panama Papers. Two judges dissented from the judgement.

The prime minister first came under suspicion last year, when documents showed his two sons and daughter all owned offshore companies and assets not shown on the family’s wealth account.

Those companies were then used to buy properties and other foreign assets, including apartments on London’s exclusive Park Lane.

Mr Sharif has said these were paid for by income from his father’s successful industrial business, the Ittefaq Group.