ISLAMBAD, Pakistan: The three-member Special Bench of the Supreme Court on Friday finalized names for the six-member Joint Investigation Team (IJT) tasked to further probe the allegations leveled against Sharif family in Panama Papers.
The names have been finalized for the JIT which consists of one representative each from six institutions including State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI).
As per the details, BS-21 Officer of SBP, Executive Director SECP Bilal Rasool, BS-20 Director Irfan Naeem Mangi of NAB, Brigadier Muhammad Nauman Saeed of ISI and Brigadier Kamran Khursheed have been selected by the Supreme Court’s Special Bench.
The Secretariat of the JIT will be in the Building of the Federal Judicial Academy in Islamabad while the federal government has been directed to provide them necessary funds with an initial amount of Rs20 million. The funds will be placed at the disposal of the Head of the JIT.
The JIT will have the power to engage and associate local and foreign experts to facilitate the investigation and collection of evidence. Likewise, all the executive authorities throughout Pakistan will act in aid of the JIT as in essence and substance, it is acting on the direction of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
The JIT has been directed to commence and complete the investigation and submit its final report in stipulated time period. It will also submit fortnightly progress reports.
Earlier in the day, the Special Supreme Court Bench formed for implementation of Panama Case headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and comprising Justice Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan resumed the hearing in the Case and announced that it would form the JIT today.
Today’s hearing began two days after the bench had rejected names submitted by the State Bank and SECP by last Wednesday for the JIT to further investigate the Panama allegations.
It is pertinent to mention here that the five-member bench of the Supreme Court in its verdict on April 20 in Panama Papers Case had announced the formation of a JIT for further investigation into Panama revelations.
Two judges of five-member bench Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Gulzar Ahmad had recorded their dissenting notes, recommending disqualification of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif while three judges proposed further investigation. Eventually, a three-member new bench was formed to implement the previous bench’s decision.
