President Mamnoon says stands by his Panama papers' statement

LONDON: President Mamnoon Hussain on Friday said that he stands by his famous statement about Panama leaks and still believes that the long arm of law will wrap its fingers around the corrupt people in Pakistan, ARY News reported.

“Pakistan will progress, now the country will only progress,” Mamnoon Hussain told media in the British Capital.

When asked about his 2016 statement about Panama leaks, he said that he stands by his statement and believes in accountability for all.

“I sensed that the way corrupt people have looted Pakistan, they will be held accountable some day… this is God’s justice, such people do manage to escape justice for a short while but eventually get caught,” said the president.

He, however, added that the current accountability process is “somewhere transparent but somewhere isn’t that just”.

The president, a PML-N stalwart, in a 2016 speech, had said that “extraordinary corrupt people have cursed faces” and they will eventually be held accountable.

“This Panama leaks issue, it is God-sent, now when it will be investigated, those people who are corrupt and have so far escaped justice will be caught,” the president had said.

The Panama leaks case eventually led to the ouster and disqualification of Mamnoon’s own party leader and former PM Mian Nawaz Sharif in July 2017.