ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court asked three questions from Justice Qazi Faez Isa for a decision on the fate of review petitions, particularly against a Supreme Court’s order to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to investigate the tax record of his wife Sarina Isa.
Justice Bandial asked the judge to reply whether he has nothing to do with the bank accounts of his wife, whether he is unaware of money withdrawn or deposited in those accounts, and whether he has no knowledge of the debit and credit entries of his wife’s accounts, and whatever spent from those accounts, he is not concerned.
Justice Qazi Faez Isa was directed to reply to the questions by today (Wednesday).
A 10-member larger bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, and comprising Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi, Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, and Justice Aminud Din Khan, on Tuesday, heard the review petitions of Justice Qazi Faez Isa, the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), and the provincial bar councils and associations, and the petition of Sarina Isa against the apex court judgment on Presidential Reference.
Some emotional scenes were witnessed during the course of proceedings when Justice Qazi Faez Isa talked about the sacrifices rendered by his forefathers towards the creation of Pakistan. Sarina Isa sobbed while mentioning the issuance of notice by the FBR after his father’s death, and Justice Bandial recalled his private meetings with Justice Faez Isa and Sarina Isa.
Justice Bandial said the court is trying to find a way out and asked Justice Isa to allow them (judges) to do justice.
“We have to see the record and have to decide the case in accordance with the law and the facts,” he said.
Justice Bandial told Justice Isa that like him, he too prays and recites Holy Quran and always seeks Allah’s guidance in deciding the cases fairly and justly.
The head of the bench asked Justice Isa that he has talked about many issues, adding that “if your have grievances against the government then go and discuss outside the court.”
Justice Bandial asked the judge to ignore whatever had happened.
He then went on to speak about his private meeting with Justice Isa and Sarina.
Upon that Justice Qazi requested Justice Bandial not to discuss those things there.
Justice Bandial said Sarina Isa’s submissions before the court is vital.
He told the judge that Sarina Isa is before the Supreme Court because of him and she filed a petition to exonerate her husband. Upon that, Justice Isa said the apex court had already exonerated him on June 19, 2020.
The Supreme Court, in its short order passed on June 19, 2020, had quashed the reference and abated the proceedings before the Supreme Judicial Council against Justice Isa.
Justice Isa said his forefather instead of taking anything has in fact given a lot to the country. “I am a ‘mujahid’ of this institution.”
He said the then FBR Chairman Jehanzeb Khan was removed after eight months and Nausheen Khan was transferred after four months as they refused to authorise any investigation against his wife’s tax returns. Justice Isa said there is a Supreme Court judgment in the Anita Turab case.
He questioned why out of 100 commissioners, Zulfiqar Ahmed was chosen to probe the tax record of his wife.
He said no action was taken against Abdul Waheed Dogar, who had filed a “frivolous” complaint against him, and Asset Recovery Unit, Zulfiqar Ahmed, Law Minister Farogh Naseem and former attorney general Anwar Mansoor Khan. He said Farogh Naseem and Anwar Mansoor told a lie before the court, but no action was taken against them.
He said Shehzad Akbar used the FBR against him.
Justice Faez said he did not lie to the court. He further said that he does not yearn for this chair (the judgeship).
He said the lords overlooked his two applications to summon law minister Farogh Naseem. He said after filing the petition on August 7, 2019, the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) passed an order “behind” his back, when he was in London.
The copy of reference was not supplied to him, although he wrote several letters to the President, he added.
At the start of the proceeding, Justice Maqbool Baqar asked Sarina Isa to be as brief as possible and give the bullet points.
Sarina Isa resumed her arguments by requesting the bench to withdraw the order to share the FBR report with the bench members and the parties.
She said the FBR report about her tax returns is confidential, and she requested the court not to share it even with her husband.
“It violates my privacy and the provisions of the Income Tax Ordinance. Don’t provide the copy to anyone,” she said, adding that the issue of tax returns is between the taxpayer and the FBR.
“My documents should not be part of talk shows,” he said.
Sarina Isa said that she was not seeking review of the FBR chairman’s order but of the apex court’s short order dated 19th June.
She said FBR’s Zulfiqar Ahmed and the Supreme Court’s larger bench did not provide her the opportunity of hearing.
“I was not part of the proceedings against the Presidential Reference, but paid penalty,” she said.
Justice Bandial said the Court did not say the accounts were fake or those were ‘trust accounts’.
He added that the money sent to the UK was through bank transactions and the money was equal to the value of properties purchased. The case was adjourned until today (Wednesday).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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