PPP hires top legal minds to contest review fake accounts case

Engages Makhdoom Ali Khan, Khalid Javed and Latif Khosa in petitions

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leadership has engaged the country's top legal minds to contest review petitions against the Supreme Court’s January 7 order in the Rs42 billion fake accounts case.

Top jurist Makhdoom Ali Khan will contest Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah’s case while former attorney general Khalid Javed will appear on behalf of the PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.

Makhdoom Ali Khan had appeared on behalf of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in Panamagate case. Nawaz had narrowly escaped disqualification on April 20, 2017 as the majority of judges on the bench had referred the matter to a joint investigation team (JIT) for further probe.

The PPP senior lawyer Sardar Latif Khosa will argue on behalf of former president and the PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur. Earlier Farooq H Naek had been appearing on behalf of Zardari and Talpur.

 

Zardari, Talpur submit petition challenging SC decision

The review petitions have already been submitted against the Supreme Court’s January 7. A three-judge special bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Ijazul Ahsan will hear the case.

It will be the first corruption case Justice Khosa will hear after taking oath as the CJP. Legal experts believe that Justice Khosa has a strict stance on corruption but he is also trying to restore confidence of political parties on the Supreme Court.

They say since his appointment, the CJP Khosa has been successful in quashing the impression that the SC has a nexus with the establishment and it is attempting to weaken the political system. However, it has been witnessed that whenever the SC takes up corruption cases, it becomes controversial.

All petitioners have raised several objections to the SC's January 7 order. The main objection is that there is a difference between the orders dictated by former CJP Mian Saqib Nisar and the written order authored by Justice Ahsan.

 

Zardari, Faryal get another extension in their bails

All petitioners have also raised objections to the order to form an implementation bench to supervise the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) proceedings and transfer of investigation from Karachi to Islamabad/Rawalpindi.

The petitioners state that initial investigation was conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and its JIT in Karachi. The allegations relate to events which purportedly occurred in Karachi. The accused in the JIT report, including the petitioner, are residents of Karachi.

They argue that all evidence is in Karachi. All witnesses, if any, cannot but be Karachi based. The case has no connection whatsoever with Islamabad. The case, therefore, ought to be tried in Karachi and not in Islamabad/Rawalpindi as directed.

They have also objected to the exercise of Article 184 (3) in this case. Sindh CM through Makhdoom Ali Khan has requested the SC that allegations in the JIT report against him may be expunged/quashed and the petitioner may not be made subject to any further harassment, inquiry or investigation.

The review petition submits that all the allegations against the CM Sindh in the JIT Report are incorrect.

"This may be illustrated by one example: it is alleged in the JIT report that the Sindh government and the provincial assembly controlled by the PPP was tailoring specific legislation for the benefit of Omni’s Captive Power Plants. This premise being incorrect, the entire blame has been placed on the petitioner. It is submitted that this allegation is contrary to facts,” it adds.