ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has observed that honouring the trust of the people was paramount and any deliberate misleading statement or premeditated concealment of a fact results in its breach.

The observation came in a detailed order on a petition filed by PTI stalwart Jehangir Khan Tareen seeking review of the judgement disqualifying him for concealment of Hyde House - a property spreading over 12 acres in the United Kingdom.

The judgement authored by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar points out that the law laid down in a plethora of judgments of the apex court clearly provided that the scope of review by the Supreme Court was limited to pointing out an error on the surface and cannot be treated as a rehearing of the matter.

The court said in Syed Rizwan Ahmad and three others versus the secretary CADD Islamabad and others case, it had been held: “A review cannot be granted for merely re-examination of the same arguments on merit or any additional ground which is beyond the scope of review jurisdiction as determined by this court in a large number of cases including Muhammad Ashiq v/s water and power development authority (2009 SCMR 749).”

Detailed judgement says Jehangir Khan Tareen attempted to introduce fresh documents at review stage of his disqualification in Hyde House case

It also cited judgement in Lt Col Nawabzada Amir Khan vs collector of estate duty, Karachi, where the court held: “A review by its nature was not an appeal or rehearing merely on the ground that one party or another conceived himself to be dissatisfied with the decision of the court.”

The court said the obvious conclusion that was fatal to the argument made by the counsel for the petitioner was that he attempted to introduce fresh documents at the review stage. It said the cases cited clearly showed that the issues not argued earlier cannot be raised in the review proceedings. Moreover, the scope of review is limited to errors found floating on the surface and which will have a material impact on the findings of the judgement under review.

“None of the issues raised by the learned counsel have any bearing on the finding of the court with regard to the petitioner’s beneficial ownership in Hyde House and the misstatement he has made in this regard in his concise statement,” the court noted.

It also pointed out that under section 122 of the Qanoon-i-Shahadat (1984), the burden to prove any fact within the knowledge of the petitioner was upon his shoulders alone and, therefore, he cannot at this stage be benefitted by submitting fresh documents despite the fact that he was given countless opportunities during the course of hearing to produce further evidence.

“At a time when it has become a movement to bring back money that has been stashed outside the country, you hid the money to buy offshore companies abroad through a device,” regretted the chief justice the day the review petition against the court order dated Dec 15, 2017, was dismissed.

“You were living in the pounds 4.7 million 12 Hyde House – a 12 acres mansion in Hampshire County (UK) – you approved the building plans, selected contractors to build the house but hid the wealth from the people of this country,” the chief justice regretted.

“It was a fudging and colourable exercise because being a public holder, Tareen deceived the people,” he added.

On Dec 15, the Supreme Court had disqualified Mr Tareen for mis-declaration under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution - the same provision under which former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was held ineligible to hold any public office for life in the Panama paper leaks case.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2019