Daily Times

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) has submitted its report on the Panama Papers case. The JIT deserves appreciation for its perseverance and non-stop working, which sometimes came under intense criticism. There may be human errors in the report because after all, it was prepared by humans and not angels, but the ball is now in the upper court of law. To be fair to the members of the JIT, they had to bear the ignominy of life challenging threats, brickbats by the ruling party and even accusations of partisanship and acting at the behest of the opposition parties.

During the sixty days that the JIT had been allocated to investigate and compile the report, there were fresh challenges every day. There was the issue of the leak of the photograph of Hussain Nawaz humbly seated in the chamber facing interrogation by the JIT. The leaked photograph may have eked some sympathy for the Prime Minister’s son while it belied the rumours that he had been subjected to harsh grilling by the JIT. The ruling party became furious when the PM’s daughter was summoned to appear before the JIT. There was nothing extraordinary about it. Maryam Nawaz does not hold any public portfolio. If the sitting Prime Minister could appear before the JIT for the cross examination, anyone can.

It is ironic since the ruling party had celebrated and distributed sweets among the masses when the April 20 verdict of the Supreme Court into the Panama Papers’ case was announced and the JIT was formed. Now the same JIT is being severely criticised by the PML-N.Perhaps it has reason to express its angst because after the report’s submission, the bench, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and including Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijazul Ahsan, ordered the registration of FIR against Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Chairman Zafar Hijazi. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had informed the court that its inquiry had found Hijazi guilty of tampering records of SECP’s probe into the Chaudhry Sugar Mills, owned by the Sharif family.

Regarding Hussain Nawaz’s plea to the special bench to form a judicial commission into the leaking of his JIT interrogation picture, the bench observed that the government may form a commission on the issue if it chooses to. Justice Ejaz also ordered that the person who leaked the picture should be identified.

The ball is in the court of the SC, which has the jurisdiction to throw the ten volumes of the JIT report into the dustbin, accept portions of it or reject some findings

The JIT had earlier informed the bench that the person responsible for leaking the premier’s son’s picture, which went viral on social media last month, had been sent back to his parent department where appropriate action was taken against him. Taking notice of news reports published in the Daily Jang and The News, the bench issued contempt of court notices to the Jang Group’s Editor in Chief Mir-Shakil-ur Rehman, publisher Mir Javed Rehman and The News reporter Ahmed Noorani. The bench has sought a clarification within seven days.

The bench also asked for transcripts of all speeches made in the last 60 days by PML-N’s Talal Chaudhry, Federal Railways Minister Saad Rafique, and the PM’s Special Assistant on Political Affairs Asif Kirmani, presumably to examine them for contemptuous content.

The JIT report is neither the final say in the Panama Papers case, nor does it proclaim any verdict. The ball is in the court of the Supreme Court, which has the jurisdiction to throw the ten volumes of the JIT report into the dustbin, accept portions of it or reject some findings.

While the Prime Minister and his family members must be lauded for their cooperation with the investigation, it would be advisable for PML (N) to wait for the Supreme Court’s verdict, which is due on 17 July, before taking any legal recourse. The report does prove one point that perhaps the members of the JIT acted without prejudice and examined the evidence presented on the merit of the case. They may be faulted for not cross examining the Qatari Prince Hamad Bin Jassim, who was a key witness in the case. The JIT should have placed the onus on the defendants to produce the Qatari Prince to support their case. In this day and age of advanced information technology, the Prince could have been cross examined via videophone links.

All in all it has been a commendable exercise, free of bias and prejudice and history has been created.

The writer is a retired Group Captain of PAF. He is a columnist, analyst and TV talk show host, who has authored six books on current affairs, including three on China

Published in Daily Times, July 15^th , 2017.