Islamabad (September 25, 2018): The Apex Court on Tuesday summoned the asset details of Co-Chairman PPP and former president Asif Ali Zardari and his children within 15 days.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar heard Zardari’s review petition against the Supreme Court verdict summoning details of his assets in relation to the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) case.
As the hearing went underway, the court directed, “Zardari should submit details of inherited assets.”
To this, the former president’s counsel, Farooq Naik, said, “You can have details for the last five years but please don’t ask for details of the last 10 years. The law only holds for five years.”
However, the court refused Naik’s request and upheld that asset details should be provided for the last 10 years.
Naik then requested, “Asset details of autonomous children should not be summoned either.”
The chief justice in response said, “Now, all children are autonomous and mature. But daughters are under guardianship till marriage.”
The former president’s counsel then told the court, “Zardari was co-accused in eight cases.”
Further, Justice Ijazul Ahsan questioned Naik, “Did you destroy all records yourself?” To this, the former president’s counsel stated, “I indicated towards the presence of the record. An affidavit was summoned from Zardari under Article 184(3).”
Responding to Naik, the chief justice said, “Public money is for the people’s welfare which is why we used Article184(3). This is not a corruption issue, we are just increasing our ambit.”
The court then summoned the asset details of Zardari and his children within 15 days.
Earlier on September 24, the Supreme Court of Pakistan accepting Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari review petition in National Reconciliation Order (NRO) implementation case formed three-member bench headed by the chief justice.
Asif Zardari challenged the supreme court interim order in NRO case after SC summoned details of his assets.
The former president has the stance in his plea that only five years tax details can be questioned as per the article 121 of income tax law. the former president filed a review petition in the apex court under Article 188 of the Constitution read with Order XXVI, Rule 1 of the Supreme Court Rules, 1980, for review of an order of the apex court on August 29, 2018, in a petition regarding the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).
Earlier On August 29, a three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar while hearing the case related to the NRO had expressed dissatisfaction over the affidavits submitted by Asif Zardari and former military ruler Pervez Musharraf regarding their assets and directed them to submit within three weeks a 10-year record of the assets and the foreign and local bank accounts owned by them.
The former president questioned as to whether the impugned order runs contrary to the established jurisprudence of Pakistan as there does not exist any provision in the law of Pakistan which requires a person to disclose all his assets and business activities that he may have conducted over the past decade.
He further questioned as to whether the said order fails to take into account the practical difficulties that would occur in attempting to gather the information required to be furnish in the affidavit sought under the said order?
Background Of Case:
Nominating Musharraf, Zardari and Qayyum as respondents, petitioner Feroz Shah Gilani had requested the court in April to order recovery of ‘huge amounts of public money’ misappropriated and wasted by them through unlawful means ‘already on record in different judgments of the Supreme Court and high court’.
He had contended that Musharraf subverted the Constitution by declaring emergency followed by the promulgation of the NRO, through which criminal and corruption cases against politicians, including Zardari, were “arbitrarily withdrawn”.
Related News:
