Islamabad: Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Finance, Senator Ishaq Dar, on Monday challenged the Supreme Court verdict against him in Panama Papers case.

Dar filed the petition just one day before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) summoned him to appear before investigators for a probe into his assets and funds.

The finance minister filed review petition through his counsel Shahid Hamid demanding the court to declare the verdict dated July 28, 2017 invalid which ordered National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file a reference against him for possessing assets and funds beyond his known sources of income.

Dar also raised objections over the appointment of a monitoring judge to oversee the proceedings of references filed in the National Accountability Bureau, saying that it makes the SC an unofficial petitioner and will affect the proceedings of the case.

He claimed that both, the July 28 verdict and the appointment of a monitoring judge, are a violation of Articles 175 and 203.

Dar, took the plea that arguments on the JIT report were heard by three judges only whereas the Impugned Final Order has been passed by five Judges including two who never heard arguments on the said report and/or considered the Petitioner’s objections relating thereto.

He argued that the final order of the apex court pertained to overseeing, supervise and monitor the implementation of the judgement, and oversee the proceedings conducted by NAB and the accountability court in filing references, by a Judge of this court was violative of Articles 175(2) and (3) and 203 and other provisions of the Constitution of the Islamic republic of Pakistan.

He maintained that “No direction whatsoever was given to the JIT qua the Petitioner. The JIT self-evidently exceeded its mandate by opining on whether or not Petitioner’s assets were disproportionate to his known sources of income and this august Court has regrettably erred in law.

A complete record of the income and wealth tax returns from 1983 to 2016 including the period FY 2002-03 to FY 2007-08 were provided to the JIT, the petitioner maintained.

He stated that NAB has previously looked into the tax record of both the Petitioner and his wife for 22 years from 1985 to 2007 and found no evidence of assets beyond known/declared sources of income and closed the inquiry.

How then can a reference be filed on the spurious JIT report that the Petitioner has not provided the relevant record? he asked in his petition.

It may also pertinently be added/clarified here that for the FYs 2002-2003 to 2007-2008 the Petitioner did declare his global assets (foreign and local) to the Election Commission of Pakistan as required by the Representation of People Act, 1976. Dar maintained.

Imran Khan Niazi, NAB, FBR, Secretary law and Justice Division and Secretary Interior were cited as respondents in the review petition.

The five-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Shaikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan unanimously in its verdict on the Panamagate case, ordered NAB to file four references against former PM Sharif, his family members and others within six weeks before accountability courts in Rawalpindi and Islamabad on the basis of the material collected and referred to by the Joint Investigating Team (JIT).