ISLAMABAD: The Sharif family has almost decided to file a review petition against the Supreme Court’s July 28 decision regarding the disqualification of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and its direction asking NAB to file references against him and his children.
A member of the Sharif family’s legal team confirmed to The Express Tribune that the family has almost decided to file a review petition against the SC’s July 28 verdict, adding that deliberations are still ongoing over the contents of the review petition.
It is also learnt that Khawaja Haris will file the review petition on behalf of the ex-premier within a week.
PM Nawaz resigns after SC order to disqualify him
Under Supreme Court Rules 1980, the family can file review petition within 30 days after receiving certified copy of the judgment.
The legal team’s member believes that Nawaz’s disqualification under Article 62 (1) (f) of the Constitution is unreasonable and he [Nawaz] has been disqualified on frivolous grounds.
He further stated that constitutional petition under Article 184 (3) can also be filed for the constitution of a full court to hear the case, adding that there are slim chances that the same bench reverses its judgment during the hearing of the review petition.
Another PML-N lawyer said that instead of filing a review petition, Nawaz and his children should focus on NAB proceedings against them.
He said that they should only challenge Nawaz’s lifetime disqualification in the case. The PML-N lawyer feared that the apex court may fill all the gaps during the hearing of the review petition therefore the family should focus on NAB proceedings.
Nawaz could have faced imprisonment
Meanwhile, Sharif family’s legal team has also expressed serious concern over the nomination of Justice Ijazul Ahsan as ‘monitoring judge’ in view of the July 28 verdict to oversee the NAB proceedings.
A senior member of legal team told The Express Tribune that open-ended monitoring by a judge means ‘persecution, not prosecution’, adding that this notification about the nomination of the judge is ‘death knell’ of due process and fair trial.
Earlier, Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar nominated Supreme Court’s Justice Ijazul Ahsan as ‘monitoring judge’ to oversee the proceedings of the references that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has been directed to file against ousted premier Nawaz Sharif, his family members and former finance minister Ishaq Dar.
A notification issued on August 1 states that Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar nominated Justice Ijazul Ahsan as the monitoring judge to supervise and monitor implementation of the Supreme Court’s last week’s Panama Papers case judgment and oversee proceedings conducted by NAB and the accountability court.
However, since Justice Ahsan is not in the country at the moment, the notification states that Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan will oversee the monitoring till Justice Ahsan returns.
Justice Ahsan, who has formerly served as the chief justice of the Lahore High Court, was elevated to the Supreme Court in June 2016.
The real impact of Nawaz Sharif’s disqualification
On July 28, in a landmark judgment in the Panamagate case, a five-judge Supreme Court bench unanimously deposed Nawaz Sharif and directed NAB to file references against Nawaz, his sons Hassan Nawaz, Hussain Nawaz, daughter Maryam Nawaz, son-in-law Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar and then finance minister Ishaq Dar.
In line with the top court’s verdict, the executive board of NAB convened on Monday and decided to file these references in the accountability courts of Rawalpindi and Islamabad within six weeks from July 28.
Since November last year, Justice Ahsan was part of the larger bench, which heard the Panamagate case.
The bench asked NAB to file first reference against the PM and his children relating to properties including flats no 16, 16-A, 17 and 17-A at Avenfield House, Park Lane area of London, United Kingdom.
“In preparing and filing this reference, NAB shall also consider the material already collected during the course of investigations conducted earlier,” it had ordered.
The court also asked to file reference against the PM and his family in connection with Azizia Steel Company and Hill Metal Establishment. NAB was also directed to file reference against them for possessing 16 companies.
These include Flagship Investments Limited, Hartstone Properties Limited, Que Holdings Limited, Quint Eaton Place 2 Limited, Quint Saloane Limited (formerly Quint Eaton Place Limited), Quaint Limited, Flagship Securities Limited, Quint Gloucester Place Limited, Quint Paddington Limited (formerly Rivates Estates Limited), Flagship Developments Limited, Alanna Services Limited (BVI), Lankin SA (BVI), Chadron Inc, Ansbacher Inc, Coomber Inc and Capital FZE (Dubai).”
NAB was directed to file reference against former finance minister Ishaq Dar for possessing assets and funds beyond his known sources of income.
It also asked NAB to include in the proceedings all other persons including Sheikh Saeed, Musa Ghani, Kashif Masood Qazi, Javaid Kiyani and Saeed Ahmed, who have any direct or indirect nexus or connection with the actions of respondents PM , his children and Ishaq Dar leading to acquisition of assets and funds beyond their known sources of income.
NAB may file supplementary reference(s) if and when any other asset, which is not prima facie reasonably accounted for, is discovered.
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