Pointing fingers: PTI accuses presidency of ‘sheltering’ corruption

Shireen Mazari alleges officials extended undue favour to Najam Sethi

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf information secretary Dr Shireen Mazari said on Friday that her party was shocked over the presidency’s efforts to ‘shelter’ Najam Sethi and his family from financial charges brought against him by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

Dr Mazari said the Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) has written to President Mamnoon Hussain pointing out how the legal wing of the presidency had admitted ‘an illegal petition’ on behalf of Sethi’s family which casts a ‘shadow of corruption’ over the office of the presidency.

TIP’s letter to President Mamnoon Husain said it has received a complaint of wrong application of law by some officers of the president’s secretariat regarding a representation filed against orders passed by the Federal Tax Ombudsman (FTO).

The letter said that the FTO on the basis of firm documentary evidence regarding concealment of huge assets created out of income from undisclosed sources had rejected three complaints filed by Sethi’s family on April 18, 2014.

Instead of filing representation before the president under the law, the Sethi family preferred review petitions before the FTO. This representation too was also unequivocally dismissed on November 6, 2014 by the FTO confirming the April order in accordance with the verdicts on the similar cases of the Supreme Court.

According to the documents sent by the complainant to the TIP, it appears some officials working in the presidency are involved in admitting the void representations, filed by the family against the orders of FTO in the review petitions.

According to FTO laws, if a person is aggrieved by recommendation of the FTO, he can file representation within 30 days of the recommendation. In this  case, representation was been filed after the 30 day-limit  which expired on December 5, 2014.

“This is simply not tenable – that the presidency should enter into what is an effort to conceal ill-gotten financial gains,” Dr Mazari stated. She demanded that the president take action and punish those responsible.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2015.