Daily Times

ISLAMBAD: The Supreme Court is expected to form and announce a commission on Monday (today) to probe the Panamagate.

The commission will be comprised of a SC judge. The ‘likely’ Panamagate Commission would submit its findings to the larger bench for final verdict.

A five-member larger bench, led by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, will resume the hearing of Panamagate related petitions seeking disqualification of Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif over alleged money laundering and tax evasion through his children as they are named into Panama Papers for owning offshore companies.

Salman Butt, counsel for the PM and his children Maryam Safdar, Hassan and Hussain, will submit replies on behalf of his clients.

The court had also asked the petitioners and respondents to submit their terms of references (ToRs) for the formation of the commission.

However, Justice Jamali has made it clear that the ToRs may not be necessarily the proposed ToRs by any party, in case, the consensus does not develop among petitioners and respondents side.

“We will not be bound to the ToRs by any party rather it is for the bench to fix the ToRs for the commission,” observed chief justice during a previous hearing.

So far no formal ToRs from the federal government or Sharifs have been submitted. On the other hand, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Sheikh Rasheed, Tariq Asad have submitted their ToRs.

Likewise Nawaz, his son-in-law Captain (r) Safdar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the respondents, have submitted their replies.

PM in his reply stated that he was and is not the owner of (legal or beneficial) any of the offshore properties, including, Flats No 16, 16A, 17 and 17A situated at Avenfield House, Park Lane, London, the properties subject matter of Panama Papers.

He also stated that his name does not appear in the Panama Papers, adding that his entire income, assets and liabilities are duly declared in the tax returns and wealth tax statements filed with the tax department as well as in Nomination Forms for the General Elections 2013

“Answering respondent (Nawaz) fulfills the requirements of Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution as well as is fully compliant with his obligation of declaration of assets and liabilities under the provisions of the Representation of People Act ROPA, 1976,” stated Butt.

He also said that none of his children are his dependents nor any of them has been declared as his dependent in his tax returns.

Likewise, Safdar in his reply stated that the entire structure of Imran Khan’s case against him has been built on the false, misconceived and incorrect assertion.

The petition is based on unsubstantiated facts/documents containing false and incorrect information and is liable to be dismissed with special costs. The Petitioner is put to the strict proof of the allegations made in the Petition, the reply further stated.

Dar has informed the court that his purported statement regarding money laundering was illegally and forcefully got recorded after the military coup of Pervez Musharraf in 1999.

“There is neither any allegation of mis-declaration of any asset nor any link whatsoever with any Panama offshore company leveled against the answering respondent (Dar),” he stated.

FBR in its reply has extended its cooperation for likely Panamagate Commission while FIA has expressed its inability over Panamagate probe.

Watan Party’s Barrister Zafarullah has challenged the court’s ruling of previous hearings in Panamagate related petitions, wherein the top court had ruled that the court shall itself make ToRs if the parties do not meet with consensus for commission.

The Panamagate has damaged the ‘credibility’ of already beleaguered government. In the last seven months the PML-N tried its best to brush aside the mega corruption scandal but Imran Khan-led PTI has kept the matter alive.