Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court will commence hearing of identical petitions on Panamagate from October 20.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, will hear five constitutional petitions filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Jamat-e-Islami, Shiekh Rasheed Ahmed, Watan Party and Advocate Tariq Asad.

Earlier, the SC’s Registrar’s Office had returned the petitions terming them frivolous. Last month, the chief justice, after an in-chamber hearing, set aside the Registrar’s Office’s objections and ordered to fix the hearing of cases in an open court.

PTI’s legal team comprising Hamid Khan, Naeem Bokhari, Ahmad Awais, Yousaf Anjum and Muhammad Imad Khan would plead the case. The PTI had requested the court to disqualify Premier Nawaz, Capt (r) Muhammad Safdar and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar over their alleged involvement in money laundering and tax evasion through offshore companies.

Likewise, JI chief Sirajul Haq, through his petition, had requested the apex court to direct the investigative agencies to probe Panama scandal.

Similarly, Advocate Tariq Asad had requested the top court to appoint a high-level judicial commission to investigate the alleged investments in offshore companies.

Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed had requested the SC to form a commission just like the one on memogate.

However, Barrister Zafarullah of Watan Party had submitted that formation of any such commission would be an exercise in futility.