The wife of Justice Qazi Faez Isa has been stated to have a tax liability of Rs35 million on account of her foreign assets and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has slapped a penalty on her against the same amount.
According to reports, this was revealed in 164-page order issued by Inland Revenue and International Taxes Zone Commissioner Zulfiqar Ahmed on September 14.
While the decision may have bearing on Justice Isa’s future as a Supreme Court (SC) judge in line to become the chief justice of Pakistan, his wife Sarina Isa has accused the FBR as well as the federal government of mala fide abuse and announced she will challenge the decision at a higher forum.
In June this year, a 10-judge SC bench had suppressed a presidential reference that had accused Justice Isa of misconduct based on non-disclosure of his family’s offshore properties in his wealth statement.
However, the bench had also directed the FBR to investigate Isa’s familial assets abroad and submit a report to Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), which is the constitutional forum with the authority to hold a superior court judge accountable.
Sarina, in a written statement, has cast doubt on the order and went on to accuse FBR official Zulfiqar Ahmed of creating “artificial tax liability of over Rs35 million” against her.
“I don’t even know if he wrote the order himself,” she added.
Under the apex court’s June 19 split order, Sarina may use all legal options against the FBR order.
Sarina went on to reject the FBR official’s referring to her alleged refusal to deliver the FBR notice, citing that her father had passed away on that day.
In the statement, she claimed that Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan was leading a team aiming to victimise her husband and his family in a bid to remove Justice Isa from his position.
