Further, supporters allege that Rehman Malik, the former head of the Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) and author of the 200-page report, was the ``hatchet man'' in the Benazir Bhutto government.

Malik was responsible for orchestrating various fraudulent activities to keep her in power, and was ``a very powerful and very corrupt official,'' says a former colleague. Sharif's son, Hasan Nawaz, told a reporter in London that the report was ``baseless.''

The report was given to the Observer when Benazir Bhutto was prime minister. The then interior minister, Naseerullah Babar, was said to be behind the report. However, before the report could becompleted, the Bhutto Government was sacked in November 1996 by President Farooq Leghari.

Babar told journalists that the report was just the ``tip of the iceberg.'' The probe could not be completed, he claimed, ``because our government was sacked.''

While Bhutto and Munawar Hasan of the Jamat-e-Islami party demanded that Sharif step down and be investigated, questions about the authencity of certain allegations arise because of the report's author, Rehman Malik, say observers.

Malik fled the country after the fall of the Bhutto government and is wanted in several cases of blackmail, corruption, fraud, theft and abuse of power, filed against him.

Nevertheless, the publishing of the report's excerpts comes as a blow to the Sharif Government, which is facing its toughest test. The economy has slipped into chaos caused by sanctions imposed by the G-8 countries. Moreover, Pakistan has been unable to conclude a funding arrangement with the International Monetary Fund.

The Sharif family's wealth is builtaround its foundry, set up by the prime minister's father, Mian Muhammad Sharif. While their interests include steel, cement, sugar, paper, and textile mills, the Sharif business empire picked up during the 1980s and 1990s, when Sharif was in power.