SC lists JI chief’s plea on Panama Papers leaks for hearing

The Supreme Court will hear a number of old cases, next week, including those related to the Panama Papers scandal, tax on foreign assets, allotment of plots to judges and bureaucrats, and the privatisation of the K-Electric.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and including Justice Aminuddin Khan, will hear the petition of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Amir Sirajul Haq for investigation against 436 Pakistanis named in Panama Papers leaks on June 9.

Advocate Tariq Asad had also filed a similar petition in 2017. However, Advocate Tariq Asad has passed away. The last hearing of the case was held on November 23, 2017. For the hearing, the court issued notices to the relevant parties and the attorney general.

The case is separate from the Panama Papers proceedings in which then prime minister Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from holding public office. At that time a joint investigation team was formed and the proceedings weer monitored by the court.

The other old case being taken up for hearing next week, was the review plea of former managing director of the Pakistan Television (PTV). The plea will be taken up by a three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial on June 6.

The other members on the bench are Justice Athar Minullah and Justice Ayesha A Malik. The case was filed by Parvez Rasheed, Ishaq Dar and Fawad Hasan Fawad, after the apex court declared the appointment of Qasmi null and void in 2018.

The same bench will also hear the 188 petitions against tax on foreign assets imposed in the budget in 2022, on June 7. The petitions against the budgetary measure were filed by various citizens and companies.

The third old case before the same bench will be the applications against smuggling and abduction of children abroad. The pleas would be heard by the three-member bench on June 8.

Another three-member bench, led by Justice Ijazul Ahsan and including Justice Muneeb Akhtar and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhel, will hear the case about suo motu notice of writing off of Rs54 billion loans, on June 7.

In 2007, the Supreme Court had taken suo motu notice against 222 people who got their bank loans written off. A total of 19 hearings had been conducted in the case so far. The last hearing of the case was held on January 8, 2019.

Justice Muneeb Akhtar will also head a separate three-member bench, including Justice Ayesha A Malik and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, hear the case against violence against underage domestic workers next week.

The same bench will also take up a plea for declaring the allotment of plots to judges and bureaucrats as illegal. The hearing of the case will be held on June 7. The court had issued notices to the attorney general and other parties.

Other cases to be heard by the apex court pertained to the privatisation of the K-Electric, challenged by the JI Amir and Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memon's plea against the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).