ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday adjourned the hearing of four identical petitions – filed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and others – seeking investigations into the Panama Papers till December 7.
A five-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJ) Anwar Zaheer Jamali comprising Justices Asif Saeed Khosa, Amir Hani Muslim, Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Ijazul Hassan heard the case.
The chief justice said that the court was keepingits options opened and added, “We will form a commission, if we feel the need to.”
The chief justice remarked that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) have not done their jobs.
“If these institutions do not want to work, why not close them,” Jamali observed.
PTI’s Counsel Naeem Bukhari continued with his arguments and said that the prime minister has not informed the court about how the money was sent to London – though he has disclosed that the funds from Dubai Mill were used for setting up the Jeddah Mill and that the London flats were purchased from the proceeds of sales of both the said mills.
Bukhari cited Hussain Nawaz, the prime minister’s son, saying the London flats were purchased in lieu of investmentsfrom Qatar – which contradictshis father’sstatements.
Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa asked if Hassan’s statement supported the Qatar prince’s letter and Bukhari replied that the prime minister’s son had said that the London flats’rent was paid by his grandfather instead of his father.
The chief justice asked if Mian Sharif – Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s father – ran the business himself and helped his children and grandchildren. The PTI council replied by saying that Hussain Nawaz has stated that gave funds to Hassan Nawaz for business.
Justice Azmat Saeed observed that all the statements revealed that money was transferred from Dubai to Qatar and from Qatar to Saudi Arabia and then the amount was transferred to London.
Bukhari then submitted his remaining arguments in writing and requested the court to hear the case on daily basis. On this, Akram Sheikh – counsel for the prime minister’s children – said that he has already filed an application for hearing of the case on daily basis.
Justice Azmat concluded by saying that the decision remains under the court’s discretionand ‘we will decide how the case would be heard’.
