Farogh Naseem, Shahzad Akbar to issue defamation notice to Sarina Isa

Govt officials say Sarina Isa wrote 'letter to take advantage in any pending or future litigation'

ISLAMABAD:

Law Minister Dr Farogh Naseem and Advisor to Prime Minister on Accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar will be issuing a defamation notice to Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s wife, Sarina Isa, it was learnt on Wednesday.

A day earlier, Sarina Isa had approached the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for initiating action against Naseem, Akbar, the former attorney general of Pakistan Anwar Mansoor Khan, and other senior officials of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

In a letter to the chairman and the NAB prosecutor general, Sarina claimed that the law minister broke the law to protect himself from criminal prosecution and that he tailored an amendment to the income tax law.

In a statement, the government officials maintained that they had received Sarina Isa's letter in which she had "as usual levelled baseless, fake and malafide allegations against the undersigned".

"We are of the view that apart from the allegations in the said letter being totally false, the letter has been written for an ulterior motive so as to take advantage in any pending or future litigation, with a view to escape accountability and elude the rigours of law. We are of the considered view that we have enough tolerated the non-sensical allegations by the lady and those behind her, and have decided to issue an appropriate defamation notice and take them to the court of law for loss and damage to our reputation, which has, inter alia, been occasioned through the letter in question," the statement read.

The statement added that the "frivolity of the lady and her cohorts could also be appreciated from the letter dated December 31, 2021, which she wrote to the bureaucracy, wherein out of context she made concocted and false references to the undersigned and others".

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"The malafides orchestrated by the lady and persons behind her, have to logically stop; therefore, rights are reserved," the statement further said.

A day earlier, in a letter to the chairman and the NAB prosecutor general, Sarina claimed that the law minister broke the law to protect himself from criminal prosecution and that he tailored an amendment to the income tax law.

"Section 216 of the Income Tax Ordinance states that tax records ‘shall be confidential’ and if these are accessed (other than by income tax officers) anyone doing so commits a criminal offence. Gentlemen, when you accessed my tax records you broke the law. In my review application submitted to the Supreme Court, I protested against this violation of the law and requested that action be taken. My review was accepted; detailed reasons are awaited. Apprehending that your careers would end and you would face criminal prosecution you proposed an amendment to the existing law," the letter stated.

Sarina, while addressing the law minister, claimed that he dishonestly drafted the Finance (Supplementary) Bill by adding an exception to section 216 to protect him from prosecution for violating the confidentiality of her tax records, and did so when the detailed judgment of her review was awaited.

“Is this not contempt of court? The fact that you have inserted the amendment and state that it ‘shall always be deemed to have been so added’ is a clear admission of guilt that you and others committed an offence under section 216," Sarina stated in the letter.