ISLAMABAD: With the final decision in the Panama Papers case already in the field, the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) has reminded the Supreme Court of the pending petition that it had instituted against all those who had stashed fortunes in offshore companies.

Moved by JI emir Sirajul Haq, the petition was filed in August last year — even before the one moved by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf. But a five-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, which was hearing cases against then prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members against the backdrop of the Panama Papers, separated the two petitions because the “grounds mentioned in them were far apart”.

While separating the two pleas, the apex court had said the JI petition would be taken up at some convenient time. But now through an application, the party has requested the court to fix its petition for early hearing, preferably on Nov 8.

Filed by Advocate Muhammad Ishtiaq Ahmed Raja, the application contended that if the petition was not fixed for early hearing, the petitioner as well as the public might suffer irreparable losses.

Petition has called for arrest of all those who invested in such firms and underlined need for bringing money back to country

The application, filed under Order 33, Rule 6 of the Supreme Court Rules 1980, reminded the court that the plea was moved in the larger national interest and to save public money. The delay in fixing a hearing on the petition would facilitate the owners of the offshore companies in “further camouflaging their sources and money”.

In the original petition, the JI chief had requested the court to order the five respondents in the case — the federal government through the parliamentary affairs ministry, secretaries of law and justice, finance and cabinet division and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) — to arrest all those who had invested stolen money in offshore companies and bring the public money, which had illegally been transferred to the companies, back to the country.

He also contended that although Pakistan was making supreme sacrifices in the war against terrorism, government officials, office-bearers of legal entities and citizens were making investments in offshore companies through illegal and corrupt means. Thus, huge sums of money had been laundered or illegally transferred and parked in offshore companies without the knowledge of the state, causing massive financial losses to the nation, he added.

The petition said the investments in offshore companies, in fact, originated from public money, and alleged that the respondents were trying to prolong the Panamagate controversy until the end of the current government’s tenure.

The petition said a large number of holders of public offices had been making investments in offshore companies and concealing such facts in the statements of assets they submitted to various entities. Therefore, it said, all such holders of public offices were liable to be disqualified from their offices and punished.

The petition claimed that due to negligence and inaction on the part of government agencies, the due process of accountability was not getting under way in a transparent manner and the existing accountability regime under NAB did not look like “across-the-board accountability”.

The illegal transfer of national wealth for investment in offshore companies should be declared an offence under Section 9 of the National Accountability Ordinance and the court should order trial of all those who had made such investments by a commission of inquiry under the laws of the land, it said.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2017