Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali on Friday rejected the terms of reference (ToRs) submitted by the government for a judicial commission that would investigate the Panama leaks.

The government had last month sent a letter to the Supreme Court registrar, requesting that the chief justice form a judicial commission to investigate the reports of the Panama Papers involving the prime minister and his family.

In response to the government’s request, a letter issued by the SC registrar says:

“The formation of a commission under the Pakistan Commission of Inquiry Act 1956 (Act VI of 1956), looking to its limited scope will result in the constitution of a toothless commission, which will serve no useful purpose.”

The letter observes that the terms of reference (ToRs) of the proposed commission are so “wide and open” that “it may take years” for the commission to conclude the investigation.

The letter also says that “before forming an opinion as to the formation of the inquiry commission, it is necessary to have the list of all individuals, families, groups, companies… along with some relevant particulars, against whom purported inquiry proceedings are to be held…”

The Supreme Court has asked the government to “reconsider and resolve the issue of formation of the commission under proper legislation” after which it will decide the modalities for the inquiry commission.

Formally withdrawing their demand for prime minister’s resignation in the wake of the Panama leaks, nine opposition parties came to an agreement last week on a draft of the terms of reference for the judicial commission to investigate the allegations thrown up by the Panama Papers.

Opposition parties want a three-member judicial commission headed by the Supreme Court chief justice set up through an act of parliament, which should first hold an enquiry into the allegations against the prime minister and his family members. The commission will be given three months, extendable to four, to complete the task.

Only then, according to the opposition-drafted terms of reference, can it start proceedings against other Pakistanis named in the Panama Papers and will have a year to complete this task.

Earlier, the government rejected the draft of the ToRs, indicating it was willing to sit with the opposition to come up with the terms of reference that were focused on eliminating corruption and do not target the prime minister personally.

An investigation published April 3 by an international coalition of more than 100 media outlets ? based on 11.5 million records and 2.6 terabytes of information drawn from the internal database of Panamaian law firm Mossack Fonseca ? details how politicians, celebrities and other famous people use banks, law firms and offshore shell companies to hide their assets.

According to documents available on the ICIJ website, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s children Maryam, Hasan and Hussain “were owners or had the right to authorise transactions for several companies”.

The data leak revealed the financial wheelings and dealings of more than 200 Pakistanis, including the late Benazir Bhutto, Rehman Malik and other prominent politicians and businessmen.

Since the data leak, PM Nawaz has been under immense pressure from the opposition to ensure a transparent enquiry to justify his children’s offshore companies.

To release the pressure, PM Nawaz on April 22 requested the SC to form a three-member enquiry commission to investigate the allegations against him and his family. The government proposed generalised ToRs, which were later rejected by the opposition parties.

The opposition parties widely hailed the rejection of the ToRs by the SC.

Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the government would now have to sit with the opposition to draft the new ToRs. Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah said the SC endorsed opposition’s stance. He asked the rulers to write a letter to the SC before Monday and inform the court that the government would prepare the ToRs in consultation with the opposition.

Awami Muslim League (AML) leader Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that SC’s decision was a victory of the opposition.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Vice-Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that consensus ToRs were inevitable for an effective enquiry commission.

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Ahsan Iqbal said the government was ready to prepare the ToRs for an across-the-board accountability.

Federal Minister for Water, Power and Defence Khawaja Asif said that SC’s response to the government’s request for a judicial commission on the Panama leaks was “natural”.