Defence lawyers to face tough questions in Panama case

ISLAMABAD: The proceedings in the Supreme Court against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his children including Hussain, Maryam and Hassan have now entered the realm of tough, hard questions to their lawyers about financial transactions and money trail.

The premier’s attorney, Makhdoom Ali Khan, dilated on these queries for the first time while, in his earlier submissions spanning four days, he had been attempting to floor the petitions on constitutional and legal grounds. He had raised pertinent questions that will most likely be dealt with by the judges in their ruling.

While he is trying to disentangle the prime minister, legal representatives of Nawaz Sharif’s children Shahid Hamid and Salman Akram Raja will face umpteen queries from judges about the offshore companies and London apartments specifically the money matters relating to them. Their plate is full with questions and they have to do a lot of explaining to the satisfaction of the five judges. Queries are now no more secret as they have been repeated for a number of times during the engaging hearings.

There is a strong possibility that the defendants may present some more documents before the top court to establish that no money was remitted from Pakistan and all the finances used in setting up steel mills in Dubai and Saudi Arabia and purchasing the London properties are legitimate and kosher. 

The Makhdoom spent a lot of time on the point that Maryam was not dependent on her father as repeatedly alleged by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawyer; that she was independent and had been paying taxes required under the law; and that Nawaz Sharif had shown in papers only him and his wife as dependents.

The primary objective of filing with the Supreme Court details of taxes paid by Maryam since 2012 was to prove that she was independent. According to the lawyer, her name was listed as her father’s dependent in his tax forms because there was no other column in them at the time and the purpose of doing so was not to declare her a dependent.

The Makhdoom’s arguments also focused on the validity and legality of Rs510 million gifted to Nawaz Sharif by his son Hussain in four years and the purchase of land by the father in Maryam’s name. The money had been gifted by the premier to his daughter through banks and the gifts given to Maryam are mentioned in his wealth and income tax returns, submitted in the court. The money gifted by Hussain to his father came from the son’s businesses.

A couple of judges wondered as to why the son provided such hefty amounts to the father as gift. Why did Hussain only give gifts to his father, Justice Ijazul Hassan asked, and said it indicates that a significant amount of money had been circulating.

The justices want to hear the lawyer on discrepancies between the arguments presented before the bench and the speech delivered by the prime minister in the National Assembly to examine it from all angles.

Contrary to the in-depth sober discussion inside the courtroom where the lawyer got ample time to cool-mindedly present his arguments and respond to the judges’ queries in a hassle-free environment, there was a fracas out of the court. The two warriors, the PTI and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), have their own separate courts functioning with full fury. They served as the judge, jury and prosecutor and pronounced their judgments – the rivals have lost once again.

A lethal media strategy has been prepared by both sides, witnessed in full swing on all days the apex court holds hearing in the high profile case. If ordinary folks pay even slight attention to what they are saying and take it as true, the two sides have won the case for countless times until now. The PTI mouthpieces employ special language forcing their rivals to react in the same vein. They portray the court proceedings in a way that suits them politically. Exaggeration is a mean word to illustrate their claims about what is happening inside the courtroom.

While they are engaged in a toxic verbal battle, other political parties are largely nonchalant, unconcerned about what is going on in the Supreme Court. Even if they comment on the proceedings, they are withdrawn, reserved and inhibited, and not bold as the PML-N and PTI are.

After judges recently disliked the practice on the court premises, PTI Chairman Imran Khan refrained from holding pressers for some days, but now he has made it a routine to speak to reporters every day to hurl more allegations and accusations on the prime minister.

Wednesday’s Imran Khan special was that Nawaz Sahrif had obtained a clean chit by conducting the Jeddah deal with Pervez Musharraf and dubbed it as another NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance).