Supreme Court reserves judgment in Panamagate case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court’s special implementation bench reserved the judgment in the Panama Papers case on Friday (today) after concluding the hearings.

Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed remarked that the bench would review the matter of the prime minister’s disqualification, according to Geo News.

In his remarks, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan stated that the bench was already reviewing the matter of the prime minister's disqualification, while Justice Ijazul Ahsan remarked that the court would not back down from its decision.

A date for the declaration of judgment has not been announced yet.

During the entire course, the three member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal heard the arguments over the final report of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) from the petitioners and the respondents in five consecutive hearings starting from July 17.

In Friday's hearing, the counsel for the prime minister’s children, Salman Akram Raja, completed his arguments and the apex court ordered to go through the ‘classified’ volume X  titled “Mutual Legal Assistance Requests ? Ongoing” of the JIT report.

The bench remarked that no substantial evidence could be found suggesting Maryam Nawaz was dependent on Nawaz Sharif.

The specific volume was the only one which was not made public as the head of JIT, Wajid Zia requested the bench to keep it secret saying it carried communications with foreign dignitaries who provided assistance to collect vital evidence.

The three-member bench also heard the arguments of Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's counsel as well as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor general today.