Panama Papers: Recap of hearings

ISLAMABAD: The 273-day Panama Papers case had its final hearing on Friday. The case saw large amounts data, 14,000 pages, being presented in the Supreme Court with around 307 questions being asked during the duration of the case.

The case involved a two month long investigation process involving half a dozen countries with the prime minister and his children coming under close scrutiny.

At stake is the political future of Nawaz Sharif.

The hearing on Friday concluded with observations of the apex court, “Believe us, every word submitted by the parties has been read and shall carefully be read again—we are also looking into issue of disqualification of 'Respondent No I' [Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif].”

With the verdict being announced in August, all eyes are set on the three judge implementation bench.

Next in line, after the apex court passes the verdict – whether in favour or against Nawaz- is Imran Khan who is facing a similar case under Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution, said a senior lawyer.

Another lawyer said that it seems difficult to write off the premier with ‘one stroke of the pen’ by the court exercising its power under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution.

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT), headed by Wajid Zia of the Police Service of Pakistan, spent 60 days probing the case. As many as 26 hearings were conducted by the bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and nine hearings by the bench headed by the then Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali from October 19, 2016 to December 9, 2016.

Counsels from both sides cited more than 315 cases and read three dozen excerpts from judicial decisions from more than two dozen countries.

Khwaja Harris, counsel for the prime minister, argued for five hours before the judges. Before this bench, Makhdoom Ali Khan, counsel for Nawaz, argued for 17 long hours before the bench of Justice Khosa. He cited 152 cases including judicial precedents from the courts of 18 different countries.

Naeem Bokhari, lead counsel for PTI, presented his arguments for 21 hours before the Panama bench. He has had also led the team with his colleague Hamid Khan before Chief Justice Jamali’s bench as well. Six books were also submitted to the court as references and case studies. Some 170 of 307 questions were asked by the judges, while the rest of them were asked by the respondents, petitioners, investigators and lawyers in this case.

Judges and lawyers read Nawaz’s speeches some 111 times while the Qatari letters and the name of Qatar’s former Prime Minister Hamad bin Jasim were mentioned 131 times by judges and counsels.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan attended 32 proceedings of the case, where he spent 93 hours in the courtroom. Jahangir Tareen attended the court for 80 hours, Shah Mahmood Qureshi for 69 hours, and Sheikh Rashid witnessed 36 proceedings where he remained for some 101 hours. Sira-ul-Haq of Jamaat-e-Islami spent 86 hours in the court where he attended 30 hearings. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif spent eight hours in the court while Railway Affairs Minister remained for 13 hours in the SC. Two female cabinet members of the PML-N – State Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and State Minister for Science and Information Technology Anusha Rahman – witnessed almost 30 hearings each where they remained for 75 and 65 long hours respectively. The Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Law and Justice, Zafarullah Khan, regularly attended the proceedings. He spent some 87 hours in the court. PML-N lawmakers Talal Chaudhry, Daniyal Aziz, and Maiza Hameed each attended more than 28 hearings. Some key leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Pakistan Muslim League-Q were also seen in last five hearings of this case.