The Supreme Court in September 2018 had constituted a joint investigation team (JIT) to probe fake accounts. The JIT report alleged that a close nexus had been found among Zardari Group, Bahria Town and Omni Group in the matter.
Former President Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur on January 28 had also filed the petitions against the Supreme Court order dated 07-01-19. The petitioners Anver and Ghani contended that the directions in para 37 of the apex court 7th January order be recalled. They prayed that January 7 order should contain an affirmation that the petitioners' must be presumed to be innocent, that they are entitled to a fair trial and due process, that the FIA/NAB may not under any circumstances besmirch their reputation during the process of inquiry and investigation and trial.
The apex court in its January 7 order had stated that the NAB and the Accountability Court are the correct fora to investigate, probe and try the offences that may ultimately be found to have been made out on the basis of material.
They contended that on the basis of para 37 of the apex court order the NAB was directed to hold its inquiry or investigation in Islamabad. The JIT conducted and concluded its inquiry in Karachi; therefore, there is no reason why the NAB cannot also conduct it inquiry and investigation in Karachi.
The accused persons, the witnesses, the accounts/documents relate to Karachi. If the NAB goes along with JIT's recommendation for filing of as many as 16 references, then there is no reason whatever why the references pertaining to the petitioners should be filed in Islamabad/Rawalpindi.
The FIA has filed an interim challan against the petitioners and others on 21-07-2018 before the Special Judge (Banking), Karachi. They were arrested on 15-08-2018. From the time of their arrest the petitioners have been requesting for the start and completion of their trial. Instead FIA has failed to file final challan and caused the trial to linger on. This endless delay has caused torture and anguish to the petitioners. The petition also pointed out that Majeed faces ill health and has presented a medical report to back this in court.
They contended that the purpose of the JIT was to assist the FIA in its investigation into fake accounts. But the JIT embarked upon a witch-hunt against the petitioners and all their family members and anyone having a direct or indirect connection with the petitioners.
The final JIT report qua the petitioners is based on wholly unreasonable and unwarranted assumptions. It is assumed, without identifying the role of the petitioners, that all the transactions in the allegedly fake accounts are the proceeds of crimes.
"By freezing the accounts of all Omni Group companies, a majority of which have no connection whatever with the alleged fake accounts, the FIA has done its best to engineer a default of all bank loans taken by these companies."
Nothing in the apex court 7th January, 2019 order should be construed as approval or endorsement of the baseless findings of the JIT report and that the concerned agencies should inquire/investigate in a fair and impartial manner without being influenced in any manner by the contents of the Court order.
They contended that the formation of implementation bench pre-supposes that NAB will file reference against them. The order is virtually a direction to NAB to file reference as per the JIT report and forecloses an independent inquiry.
They contended that the copies of the materials/documents/statements including account statements, STRs and CTRs statedly examined by the JIT and the statements of 924 individuals were not provided to them; therefore, they were unable to file comprehensive reply.
The order dated 07-01-19 needs an amendment to the effect that copies of all volumes of JIT report should be furnished to the petitioners to satisfy the mandate of Article 10-A of Constitution and the law.