ISLAMABAD: Ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday filed another review petition against the Supreme Court’s July 28 verdict in Panama Papers case.
In his fresh review petition, Nawaz Sharif requested the court to declare its verdict as void and revoke it, as, according to him, not drawing a salary and not declaring it cannot be made the basis of his disqualification.
He submitted that the original petitions filed by Imran Khan, Sheikh Rasheed and Siraj-ul-Haq did not mention the FZE Capital, thus how he could be disqualified over a matter which was not included in the petitions.
In support of his contentions that not drawing a salary from the Capital FZE could not lead to disqualification, he stated that according to Pakistan’s income tax laws, a salary is that which has been received by the filer.
He maintained that in light of income tax laws, he cannot be disqualified even if he would have declared his salary from the Capital FZE. “Even if the salary is considered receivable, it is still not a ground for the disqualification,” the petitioner maintained.
About not declaring his assets, the petitioner stated that a relevant forum exists to deal with such matters, adding that if Supreme Court would have referred the matter to that forum, he would have the chance to defend himself. “Not drawing a salary and not disclosing it cannot be termed as ‘dishonesty’, the petitioner maintained.
Nawaz Sharif also objected to the fact that his and his family’s reservations regarding the joint investigation team (JIT) were dismissed. He maintained that directing the trial court to wrap up its proceedings within six months will affect the matter.
He contended that no law in Pakistan allows for the monitoring of a trial court and thus the apex court’s orders to conduct such monitoring are against the law. He pleaded that the court directives to the trial court are in violation of the fundamental right to a fair trial.
Earlier on August 15, the ousted prime minister had filed a review petition questioning his unceremonious disqualification under Article 62(1)(f) of the constitution by the apex court.
Later on August 21, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar questioned SC’s authority to pass a verdict about his assets being beyond his known sources of income in a petition filed under Article 184 (3) of the constitution.
On August 25, Nawaz Sharif’s children – Hassan, Hussain and Maryam – and his son-in-law Captain (r) Safdar filed review petitions challenging the Supreme Court’s July 28 verdict. The review petitions filed under Article 188 of the constitution read with Order XXVI of the Supreme Court Rules 1980 pleaded the court to set aside its July 28 verdict and its implementation till a decision on their review petitions is made.
Through their review petitions, they also requested the court to set aside its directives to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file corruption references against them pertaining to the Avenfield properties in London and different offshore companies.
On July 28, 2017, the Supreme Court had disqualified Nawaz Sharif as prime minister for being not ‘honest’ and ordered NAB to file corruption references against him, his children, son-in-law and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in accountability courts. The court gave NAB six weeks to file the references and the accountability courts six months to wrap up proceedings in the high-profile cases. Nawaz Sharif and his family was named in the Panama Papers, which comprised 11.5 million documents, showing how some of the world’s most powerful people have secreted away their money in offshore holdings.
Published in Daily Times, August 27th 2017.
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