ISLAMABAD: The Joint Investigation Team (JIT) investigating the Panama case has made four teams from different institutions on Tuesday.
The institutions include the SECP, FIA, NAB, and SBP have formed their respective teams and have submitted the names to the JIT.
The SECP has assembled a four-member team that includes Hamid Javed, Khurram Hasan, Anwar Hashmi and Haroon Abdullah, sources told Geo News.
Khawar Ilyas will head the NAB team.
The teams will begin to assist and support the JIT beginning today.
The Supreme Court bench formed to implement the Panama case verdict on Monday expressed its satisfaction with the progress of the JIT probing the case.
The JIT presented its first interim report, which comprises its findings of the first 15-days of its investigation on Monday. It is expected to complete the investigation in a total of 60 days.
The bench, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan, comprises Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijaz-ul-Hassan.
Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Additional Director-General Wajid Zia, who is heading the JIT, submitted the report to the bench. Other JIT members were also present at the proceedings.
After examining the documents submitted by the JIT, Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan directed the investigators to ensure their task is completed in a transparent manner no later than 60 days — as prescribed in the April 20 Panama case judgment.
Before the hearing concluded, PTI’s counsel Fawad Chaudhry asked the bench to make the report public as ‘it is not their personal case but that of the entire country’. However, the bench disagreed. He added that the report would be made public when the time comes.
The hearing was then adjourned till June 7.
On April 20, the five-member Supreme Court bench hearing the Panama Papers case, by a majority verdict of three to two, ordered the constitution of a JIT to probe the assets of the incumbent prime minister.
The bench had also requested the Supreme Court Chief Justice to constitute a special bench to ensure the implementation of the judgment.
On May 2, the Supreme Court announced formation of a three-judge bench to implement its judgement in the Panama Papers case. The judges who had handed down the majority judgment in the case were made members of the bench.Talking to the media outside the court, the JIT head said they are working according to the court’s directions. He did not comment when asked regarding the questioning of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The six-member JIT comprises its head, Zia, Amer Aziz of the State Bank of Pakistan, Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s Executive Director Communication Bilal Rasool, Irfan Naeem Mangi of NAB, Brigadier Nauman Saeed of the Inter-Services Intelligence and Brigadier Kamran Khurshid from the Military Intelligence.
The Federal Judicial Academy in Islamabad has been declared as the secretariat of the JIT while the apex court ordered the federal government to provide the JIT members with the necessary funds to complete their task — with an initial amount of Rs20 million. The funds have been placed at the disposal of the JIT’s head.
According to the Supreme Court’s directives, the JIT has the power to engage and associate local and foreign experts to facilitate the investigation and collection of evidence.
