SC dismisses presidential reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa

The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday dismissed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government’s presidential reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa of the top court, announcing its short verdict on the petition challenging the reference in the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC).

A ten-member larger bench of the apex court headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik, Justice Faisal Arab, Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah, Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed heard the case, reserving the verdict before it was announced after 4 pm.

The case was wrapped up after Justice Isa’s spouse on Thursday provided the money trail pertaining to her foreign properties and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) provided its input on the matter.

The petitioner’s lawyer, Munir A Malik, concluded his arguments in court by saying that the federation had “gotten on the wrong bus” in the case.

The top court judge’s wife, Zarina Carrera Khoso, submitted the money trail of her three properties in the United Kingdom (UK) to a full bench of the SC via video link in an assets concealment and alleged misconduct case against her husband.

The SJC had initiated the proceedings against Justice Isa on allegations that he purchased three properties in London in the name of his wife and children between 2011 and 2015 but did not allegedly disclose them in wealth returns declared in Pakistan.

Justice Isa had told the apex court on Wednesday that his wife wanted to appear before the SC bench to explain the sources of her UK properties.

Subsequently, following the top court’s approval she testified that all the money was transferred from Pakistan to UK through her two foreign accounts.

“Properties in Karachi were sold out and two bank accounts — one in British pounds and the other in US dollars — were opened in a private bank to transfer the money.

“From 2003-2013, a total of £700,000 was transferred through these two foreign accounts in the Standard Chartered Bank’s Karachi branch,” she added.

Khoso clarified that she was a Spanish citizen and that she had used her passport to purchase the properties in London. She added that when her husband was a lawyer, she would get a five-year visa.

However, the Pakistani authorities had issued a one-year visa after 2018 only to create hurdles.

Justice Isa’s wife explained that since she was born in Spain and her father’s and mother’s names, respectively, were Khoso and Carrera, her name on her birth certificate and passport is Zarina Carrera Khoso.

After she got married to Justice Isa back in 1983, however, the Pakistani government registered her name on her CNIC as Zarina Isa.

In her statement, the judge’s wife said her tax returns were filed after advice from Rehan Naqvi, her solicitor, and that she owned a house in Clifton, as well as a plot in Shah Latif Town. She has also received agricultural land from her father, which is now in her name.

Khoso said she was advised that according to the law, tax returns were not filed on agricultural land. All of her taxes were filed after consultations with Naqvi, she added, noting that the last tax return she had filed was over Rs7.6 million.

Later, Justice Maqbool Baqar reportedly remarked that what was going on in the country in the name of accountability would also be looked into. He said destruction [of institutions] was underway in the country in the name of accountability and they would also write that in the verdict.

Justice Maqbool Baqar asked if the SJC could review the performance of the president, to which the federation’s lawyer, Farogh Naseem, said that the council had the authority to review anyone’s performance.

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Justice Qazi Faez Isa is an SC justice who took oath as a judge of the top court in September 2014. He is scheduled to become the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) in August 2023 for thirteen months.

His landmark cases include the Faizabad Sit-in judgment in 2019, the Quetta Massacre Commission in 2016 — when he headed an inquiry commission to find out what happened when a suicide attack in August 2016 killed 74 people — and the Memogate Commission in 2012, a case where an alleged memo was delivered to an American official at the behest of former ambassador to the United States (US), Husain Haqqani, in May 2012.

In May 2019, media started reporting that references were being filed against SC judges Reports became so rampant that Justice Isa approached President Arif Alvi, complaining that information being leaked to the media amounted to character assassination, which would hinder his right to a fair trial. He also asked the president if a reference was being filed against him by the president in the SJC.

There was no reply by the president and soon, a notice was sent to the federal government by the SJC that a reference was being filed against him and another judge, accusing them of concealing assets.

Justice Isa then wrote another letter, in which he said that he could’ve handled the inquiry against him and his family but it seemed that the independence of the judiciary was being undermined and that a judge had to preserve and protect the constitution as he had sworn to do.

He then asked the SC that a full bench be constituted, a plea that was accepted by then CJP Asif Saeed Khosa, and after a months-long trial, a full bench of the apex court on Friday dismissed the petition against him.