Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s 15 questions regarding appointment and assets of accountability wizard

10 member SC bench will resume the hearing of Justice Isa's case on June 02

Justice Qazi Faez Isa has raised 15 questions regarding the appointment, assets, tax returns and nationality of SAPM Barrister Shahzad Akbar as a head of Asset Recovery Unit (ACU) in a rejoinder submitted to the Supreme Court. Justice Qazi Faez Isa is the senior most Supreme Court judge and will become next Chief Justice of Pakistan after the retirement of current Chief Justice.

President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi had filed a reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa in Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) on the advice of PM Imran Khan for not declaring the property owned by his family members in London. Justice Isa has challenged the presidential reference filed against him in the Supreme Judicial Council and filed a petition in the SC saying the case was based on mala fide intent.

The first question raised by Justice Faez is regarding the appointment of barrister Shahzad Akbar. “Who appointed Shahzad Akbar?” asked the Justice Isa. “Did the government announce the vacancy in newspapers or were applications sought for the appointment of the chairman of the Asset Recovery Unit?”

Justice Faez Isa, also sought to know whether Akbar's appointment was made through Federal Public Service Commission and if answers to these four questions are in negative, then how he had been appointed as the ARU head. He also asked authorities to share the terms and conditions of his job.

“Is Shahzad Akbar a Pakistani or does he hold dual nationality?” asked Justice Isa.

Seeking information about

SAPM’s tax details, the SC judge asked why he has not made anything public about his family members and the nationality they hold.

“What’s his income tax and wealth status and from when he started submitting his tax returns?”

In another question, Justice Isa asked about the bank details, properties and assets owned by the  prime minister’s special assistant on accountability.

Justice Isa also demanded the information about the assets owned by SAPM Akbar’s family and whether he has declared these in his returns or not.

The SC judge said that ARU is an illegal entity and the money spent on it is a ‘theft’ of public money and the unit collected the information about him through unlawful means.

A 10-member judge bench, led by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, will resume hearing the case on June 2, which was earlier scheduled to be taken up on March 30. The apex court had postponed the hearing due to the coronavirus pandemic.

                                                                     Special correspondent