Foreign assets: High court prepares proclamation for 60 politicians

The notice for court summons will be printed in various newspapers.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court deputy registrar has prepared a proclamation, to be printed in various newspapers, to issue notices to 60 politicians on a petition seeking an order to bring their foreign assets back to Pakistan. The list includes present and former parliamentarians, their families, lawyers, two former chief justices and a property tycoon.

The proclamation requires the respondents to appear before the bench hearing the petition in person or through an attorney on June 20 to plead their case.

“If you or your counsel fails to appear before the court on the given date, the case will be heard and decided in your absence. No excuse shall be acceptable on this account,” the proclamation states.

Justice Khalid Mahmood Khan had ordered that notices be issued to respondents through press advertisement on May 20, as they had failed to respond to several notices issued by the court.

The respondents include Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, his wife Kulsoom Nawaz, son Hussain Nawaz, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, PTI chairman Imran Khan and his former wife Jemima Khan, former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani and his wife, former president Asif Ali Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Faryal Talpur, former president General (r) Pervez Musharraf, Interior Minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan, former interior minister Rehman Malik, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Pervez Elahi, Faisal Saleh Hayat, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Javed Hashmi, Maulana Fazalur Rehman, Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad, Ghulam Mustafa Khar, National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Farooq Sattar, Jahangir Tareen, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Sheikh Rasheed, Malik Riaz Hussain of Bahria Town, former LHC chief justices Khwaja Muhammad Sharif and Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry, former presidents of SCBA Hamid Khan, Asma Jahangir, Barrister Aitezaz Ahsan and his wife Bushra Aitezaz, Najam Sethi, Wasim Sajjad, Sharifuddin Peerzada and Ahmar Bilal Soofi.

Barrister Javed Iqbal Jafree had originally filed the petition in 1996. He said the respondents had transferred at least $300,000 million to foreign countries through money laundering.

He said this had caused a huge loss to the national exchequer. He asks the court to direct them to bring their assets back to Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2014.