Supreme Court (SC) on Friday took up Jamaat-e-Islami plea seeking a probe against all Pakistanis named in Panama Papers leaks. A two-member bench headed by Justice Sardar Tariq comprising Justice Ameenuddin took up the plea of JI chief Sirajul Haq, who also attended the proceedings. As the hearing began, JI pleaded with the court to form a judicial commission to probe against Pakistanis named in the Panama leaks. “Where were you for last seven years,” Justice Sardar Tariq asked the applicant’s lawyer. He asked institutions like SBP, NAB, FIA and others are there, has JI approached any of them for probe in the last 7 years? Why do you want to bypass the institutions?, Justice Tariq asked.

The SC bench also expressed resentment over separating former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s case in Panama Papers. “Why the SC was not asked to hear the case against all Pakistanis at the same time,” SC bench head asked. Targeting a particular family was the motive at that time, Justice Tariq questioned JI’s lawyer. JI is not targeting any particular individual named in the Panama leaks, the lawyer replied to the SC bench. “But you targeted in 2016”, the bench head remarked. “How can action be initiated against 436 Pakistanis without even serving notice to them.”

Don’t use the judiciary’s shoulder in this matter, the SC told the applicant. Later, the court while summoning arguments on the formation of a judicial commission on the matter adjourned the Panama leaks hearing for a month. It may be noted that the Panama leaks triggered the ouster of the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 2017, after the joint investigation team blamed the ex-PM and his family for concealing assets beyond known sources of income.

The Panama Papers scandal unraveled to the world with shock and Pakistan was no exception especially when its ruling elite were discovered to have stashed their wealth offshore. The leaked papers, comprising 11.5 million documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, exposed how some of the world’s most powerful people have secreted their money offshore, and also implicated Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s sons Hasan Nawaz and Hussain Nawaz. The revelations in a report released by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) dropped like a bombshell on the government on April 4, 2016, prompting countrywide debate about whether the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif should stay in office after startling disclosures concerning stashed wealth of his family.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP