Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday observed that disqualified prime minister Nawaz Sharif did not present any documentary evidence in Panama Papers case to substantiate his ‘verbal’ claim of not receiving any salary from his son’s Dubai-based company, Capital FZE.

The court observed that the documents provided by the joint investigation team (JIT), which probed the Panama Papers scam, about the Sharif family’s businesses showed that Nawaz Sharif drew salaries from the Capital FZE as its chairman.

These observations came from a five-member larger bench comprising Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Sh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan, which was hearing review petitions filed by ousted premier Nawaz Sharif, his children Hassan, Hussain and Maryam, son-in-law Capt (r) Safdar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar against the July 28 verdict in Panama Papers case.

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan noted that when it is clearly mentioned in the agreement that Nawaz Sharif will be entitled to a salary then how it can be derived through a verbal submission that he had no intention to withdraw it. He said there should be a document in black and white under Article 103 of ‘Law of Evidence 1984’ that he had no intention to withdraw the salary.

Justice Sh Azmat Saeed observed that under Article 184 (3) of the constitution, the court decides the cases only on the basis of admitted facts and does not go beyond it.

Resuming his arguments, Khawaja Haris Ahmad, senior counsel for Nawaz Sharif, contended that his client had not opened the account to get the salary. He contended that the apex court cannot disqualify a member of National Assembly under Article 62 (1) (f) on the basis of mere omission.

He said it was the first case wherein the apex court disqualified any parliamentarian. He said the constitution does not specify the life-time term of disqualification under Article 62. He contended that the corruption references could not be filed against the Sharif family on the basis of the JIT report which was ‘incomplete’. “A document available in Volume-IX of the JIT report shows that an account was opened by the Capital FZE to disburse remuneration to Nawaz Sharif and on August 01, 2013, the salary was transferred into it,” Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan pointed out. He said the employment agreement stated that a monthly salary of AED 10,000 was set for Nawaz Sharif.

In response to the objections raised by Kh Haris about referring the matter to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for filing corruption references against Sharif family, Justice Ejaz Afzal observed that the court never concluded that the JIT report was conclusive and the Sharif family should be convicted on its basis.

He said the court doesn’t believe that the JIT report is final. He said the trial court is free to draw its own inference on the basis of evidences to be examined by it. He said the court has exercised restraint and tried not to write anything which could affect the case at any stage.

At one point, Justice Khosa observed that the court had already expressed its reservations about the NAB’s conduct, thus how it could completely rely on it when it had already dragged the matter.

He said the July 28 verdict would not become a hindrance if some new revelation came on record during the trial. He said in past the apex court had provided relief to Nawaz Sharif over violation of his fundamental rights.

To Kh Haris’ contentions that the court had become a complainant in the case against his client, Justice Khosa said it was a wrong impression, adding that whenever cases were initiated against Nawaz Sharif in violation of legal provisions, it was the apex court which rescued him.

Kh Haris argued that although his client was not backtracking from the employment agreement with Capital FZE, however he did not have a bank account for the purpose of drawing salary. He said every salary cannot be treated as an asset, adding that a salary is either in cash or deposited into a bank account.

He said his client did not merit disqualification only on the ground that although he had not withdrawn salary from the Capital FZE, it still constituted as an asset for being a receivable.

In his arguments, Shahid Hamid, senior counsel for Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, contended that the court in its July 28 verdict about filing of a corruption reference against his client on the grounds that his assets were beyond his known source of income had exceeded its limit. “The court could not turn a blind eye to what was on record,” Justice Khosa observed. He said Dar’s assets increased 91 times, as they went from Rs 9 million to Rs 900m in a short period of time.

The counsel regretted that his client was being maligned on the roads and in media. Justice Khosa then remarked that Nawaz Sharif and Ishaq Dar maligned and slandered the court, adding that they were at the forefronts of those who targeted the apex court. “You reap what you sow,” he said. Meanwhile, the court adjourned further hearing until today (Friday).

Kh Haris and Shahid Hamid, counsels for Nawaz Sharif and Ishaq Dar respectively, have concluded their arguments. Salman Akram Raja, counsel for Nawaz Sharif’s children, will advance his arguments today (Friday).

It is expected that the court may announce its short verdict over the review pleas today (Friday).

Published in Daily Times, September 15^th 2017.