Who constituted ‘WhatsApp JIT’?

ISLAMABAD: On May 30, 2017, The News broke the story about the controversial establishment of a “Whatsapp JIT” on Panama — an issue that was never investigated by the apex court and was swept under the rug.

Using Whatsapp, a caller introduced himself as the registrar of the Supreme Court and instructed the top bosses of the State Bank of Pakistan and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, as well as the NAB, to include specific names in the panel forwarded to the Supreme Court’s special bench for the constitution of a JIT on the Panama case.

The News story, titled “Tale of Whatsapp caller and the Panama JIT,” was widely discussed and raised serious questions about the selection of the Panama JIT, but the apex court simply ignored the matter. Saqib Nisar was the Chief Justice of Pakistan at that time. After his retirement, when contacted by The News, Saqib Nisar said that he had no connection with the setting up of the Panama JIT, which became controversial after the publication of a story in this newspaper. Stressing that he had never inquired about the WhatsApp call from the registrar, the former CJP mentioned that the issue pertained to the Implementation bench of the Panama case. “I don’t know why the registrar did it,” he said.

The caller, the then registrar, gave the names of Amer Aziz to the SBP and Bilal Rasool to the SECP for their inclusion in these organisations’ respective panels of officers for the JIT on the Panama case against the then prime minister and his children. According to a source, the caller also sought the name of Irfan Naeem Mangi from the then-NAB chairman. These Whatsapp calls were made when the Supreme Court had sought two additional names from each of these organisations after not being satisfied with their nominations included in the initial panel of officers.

Initially, as per the SC decision on the Panama case, all the institutions concerned, including FIA, ISI, MI, SBP, SECP, and NAB, sent their respective panels of officers to the SC for the setting up of the JIT. The apex court, however, sought additional names from the SECP, SBP, and NAB. While these apex court directions had reached the departments concerned, their top bosses were contacted through Whatsapp by the caller. Questions were raised about whether the caller was the SC registrar or someone else impersonating him. In its revised panel, th NAB included the name of Mangi, but the SECP and SBP forwarded their choice names, ignoring the caller’s request. Later, the SC rejected the nominees from the SECP and SBP for the JIT and included its choice names to probe the matter. According to media reports, the special bench of the apex court observed that it had rejected the names of officials nominated by the SBP and SECP because they did not meet the court’s criteria. “We want honest and professional officials to be members of the JIT,” a member of the special bench was quoted as saying. The court then directed the SECP chairman and the SBP governor to appear in the next hearing with lists of all officers of Grade 18 and above working in the two organisations. Following these developments, the choice JIT was constituted.