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Tuesday March 19, 2024

JIT under strict orders to meet deadline

By Tariq Butt
June 24, 2017

ISLAMABAD: The Panama Joint Investigation Team (JIT) will turn out to be the one and only probe body in decades that has been strictly directed to finish its most challenging job within the Supreme Court-fixed tight timeline of sixty days.

However, doubts still exist about the JIT meeting the deadline of July 10 in view of the complicated work it is required to dispose of. All kinds of judicial or administrative commissions and committees, multi-agency JITs, and investigation agencies or teams keep seeking extensions as they are unable to complete the inquest for genuine reasons. The institutions overseeing them readily agree to give them more time. At times, such probes drag too much.

Many legal minds project the opinion that considering the elaborate assignment the instant JIT has, it is difficult for the forum to end its work in only sixty days. They stress that the JIT is needed to prepare a credible report so that the apex court is in a position to reach some conclusion about the Panama case.

How far the JIT findings will be weighty, valuable and relevant for the court will depend upon its decision because the conclusions of the team will be just a report like that of any other investigative agency or forum.

A question that has repeatedly arisen is whether the JIT will be able to produce comprehensive, all-inclusive findings or will come out with only a half-backed report. After presenting its third and second last report filed with the special bench on Thursday, the ever-grudging JIT complained to the judges to a question put by one of them that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has taken the stand that the record for a specific period they have asked for three times was not available.

The bench was displeased over the FBR’s non-cooperation and said it was a clear defiance by the institution. However, the attorney general told the court if the JIT shared with him the list of documents it wants, he would find them out.

“You have to find out whether the relevant record was lost, stolen or hidden by the institution,” Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed asked the attorney general. However, FBR Chairman Dr Irshad reiterated on Friday that whatever record they have they have provided to the JIT. In fact, he had made the same statement earlier as well when the JIT had accused the FBR of not giving certain record regarding the tax matters of the Sharif family. This time the JIT told the apex court that it got the record from the Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) it wanted.

By the time the JIT will submit its conclusive report with the court, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) may also complete its inquiry into the allegation of tampering of record by the SECP, which was leveled by the JIT. The bench referred the probe to the FIA.

The future shape of the proceedings will emerge only after the decision of the bench on the receipt of the final JIT findings. The court held in its April 20 judgment that upon receipt of the reports, periodic or final of the JIT, as the case may be, the matter of disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif shall be considered.

If found necessary for passing an appropriate order in this behalf, the premier or any other person may be summoned and examined, it said. Quoting this part of the judgment, legal circles point out that the three-judge bench may summon the prime minister if it thought necessary for passing an order relating to him. This means that he will be provided an opportunity to defend himself personally and through his lawyers.

Another possibility is that the bench may find the report unworthy of any further action and may dispose of the case. The bench also has the option of referring the case to the accountability court for trial and decision.