The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has demanded that the Panama Leaks scandal should be probed under the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC).
The SCBA said that the UNCAC specifically deals with corruption and money laundering issues in many countries and its help could be viable and practical, said a press release issued on Thursday.
The SCBA noted that the leaked Panama papers have revealed corruption at the highest level in Pakistan. The statement said that since a judicial or an inquiry commission or even a parliamentary body cannot collect relevant evidence outside the country’s boundaries, the setting up a commission domestically would be a futile exercise.
“In these cases, the name of the beneficiary or the source of funds is carefully hidden. Hence, the biggest challenge is to unearth the evidence,” it said, adding that the government of Pakistan could initiate the process and show its intention to get the assistance of the UNCAC by promulgating an ordinance authorising the Chief Justice of Pakistan to nominate a national task force to probe the matter.
This national task force may employ financial investigators, accountants, members of law enforcing agencies, legal or other experts as well as a well-known forensic institution to probe the matter.
The national task force should publish its findings and conclusions itself without any reference to the government of Pakistan.
“The national task force should have available the services of the FBR, the SBP, the FIA and the NAB for the purposes of implementing any directions of the national task force,” the statement said.
PBC OR SCBA:
On Wednesday, the Punjab Bar Council (PBC) had announced that it would not accept an inquiry commission on Panama Papers that did not include representatives of all five bar councils in the country.
Punjab Bar Council Vice Chairman Chaudhry Muhammad Hussain told a press conference that the PBC would announce its own programme on the issue independent of the Supreme Court Bar Association. He made the announcement after meeting a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) delegation including Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Mahmoodur Rasheed, Shafqat Mahmood and Waleed Iqbal, at the PBC office.
Hussain said that the members of the SCBA were fewer compared to the PBC members. He said the PBC could provide a more effective programme in this regard. Hussain said they would call a convention of lawyers’ representatives to finalise a comprehensive line of action. The date for the convention will be announced next week.
Hussain said the leaked papers had included names of some of the judges and members of the legal fraternity. “Therefore, it is important to include lawyers in the commission formed to probe the matter.”
He said they would not accept a commission on the issue without the inclusion of representatives of the Punjab Bar Council, the Sindh Bar Council, the Balochistan Bar Council, the Islamabad Bar Council and the Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Bar Council.
“We do not want to initiate a movement against the government and derail democracy… We are the ones who restored democracy by forcing a dictator to pack up and leave,” the PBC vice chairman said.