Justice Ijazul Ahsan appointed to monitor references against Sharifs

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday appointed Justice Ijazul Ahsan as the monitoring judge to supervise the implementation of its July 28 judgement in the Panama Papers case.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan was part of the five-member bench that delivered the 5-0 verdict against the Sharif family on July 28, disqualifying Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif from the membership of parliament for not being honest and had ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file references against him and his family.

Similarly, Justice Ijazul Ahsan was also member of the three-member special implementation bench which oversaw work of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT).

In its judgement, the apex court on July 28 had directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file references against Mian Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, Hussain Nawaz Sharif, Hassan Nawaz Sharif and Capt (r) Muhammad Safdar relating to Avenfield properties in London.

The court had given NAB six weeks to file the references in an accountability court in Islamabad/Rawalpindi and decide the case in six months.  The court had also requested the chief justice of Pakistan to nominate a judge of the apex court to supervise and monitor implementation of its judgement in letter and spirit and oversee the proceedings conducted by NAB and the Accountability Court in the matter.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday decided to file four references against Nawaz, his three children--Maryam, Hussain and Hassan-- son-in-law MNA Capt (r) Safdar and former finance minister Ishaq Dar.

On Monday, Deputy Registrar (Admin) of the Supreme Court A Shabbir Khan Khattak, on behalf of the registrar, issued a notification, available with The News, appointing Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Judge of the Supreme Court, as monitoring judge to supervise and monitor implementation of its July 28 judgement in letter and spirit.

“In pursuance of the judgement, dated July 28, 2017, passed by this court, the chief justice has been pleased to nominate Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, as monitoring judge to supervise and monitor implementation of the said judgement in letter and spirit and oversee the proceedings conducted by NAB and Accountability Court in the matters,” says the notification.

The notification further said that as Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Monitoring Judge, is currently abroad, therefore, till  his return, the chief justice has been pleased to order that Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan shall act on his behalf.