Supreme Court’s Justice Sardar Tariq Masood observed on Friday that establishing offshore companies is “no crime”, while hearing a Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) plea seeking action against all 436 Pakistanis named in the 2016 Panama Papers, a private TV channel reported.
On Nov 3, 2017, the JI had, through an application, reminded the court of its pending petition filed by party emir Sirajul Haq in August 2016. The hearing was presided over by a two-member bench comprising Justice Masood with Justice Aminuddin Khan. Advocate Ishtiaq was representing the JI in court. During the proceedings, the JI counsel requested the court to form a judicial commission to investigate those named in the Panama Papers. However, Justice Masood raised the question of how it could be done when other institutions existed to be approached for the matter. Subsequently, the apex court adjourned the hearing for a month.
At the outset of the hearing, the JI counsel requested the apex court to constitute a judicial commission to further probe the Panama Papers case. Justice Masood, while addressing the JI counsel, noted that the matter had been pending in the Supreme Court for the past seven years. “Did you have to run a case against just one family? You had no interest in this case for the past seven years,” he said. The justice further asked the lawyer why he had “delinked his petition” and why he had “not taken such a big relief from the five-member bench” that was previously hearing the case in 2017.
Upon this, Ishtiaq replied, “We want that the 436 people named in the Panama [Papers] are also investigated.” To this, Justice Masood asked, “Why do you want to bypass the law? Should we close down all other institutions? Do you want all decisions to be made by the Supreme Court? The top court judge observed, “Establishing offshore companies is no crime. How the offshore companies were established would be looked upon by the institutions.” Here, Justice Khan highlighted, “We will not take any suo motu notice. [We] wish to say a lot of things but we will not.” Addressing the JI counsel, Justice Masood went on to remark, “You remembered after seven years that it is a matter of public interest?
“At that time, a case was proceeding against a single family. That was also the Panama matter, this is also the Panama matter,” he added. The judge asked, “Why did you not say in front of this court back then that it is everyone’s matter [and] it should be heard simultaneously?”
Justice Masood told Advocate Ishtiaq: “At that time, was this matter delisted upon your request? I do not want to say but it seems like something else to me.” Reiterating that the 2017 bench had given him “such a big relief”, the apex court justice once again asked the JI lawyer why he did not ask the court to hear this case along with another. He further asked, “Did you request any institution in [these] seven years that investigations be conducted? Where did you fulfil your responsibility?” Recalling the JI’s plea to direct the relevant institutions to investigate those involved in the Panama Papers, Justice Masood said, “You did not complain to any institution in these seven years. Now, should the Supreme Court do all the work here?
