CJP orders to remove names of Bilawal, Murad from ECL, JIT report

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar ordered the government to remove the names of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto and Chief Minister Sind Murad Ali Shah from the Exit Control List (ECL).Read more: Zardari, Faryal reject JIT report; submit reply in SCWhile hearing the Fake accounts case, a three-member bench headed by CJP Nisar directed the officials to delete paras regarding the PPP chairman and Sindh CM from the report prepared by the Joint Investigation Team.At the outset, the Attorney General apprised the apex court on the progress made on the SC orders of placement of 172 suspects on the no fly list. He informed the bench that the Federal Cabinet had forwarded the matter to a review committee which would decide it.The chief justice asked the JIT counsel to explain why Bilwal Zardari was dragged into the case. He is just a kid and taking his mother’s legacy forward, he observed.The names of Bilawal Bhutto and Murad Ali Shah were included for point scoring, he remarked.Later, the SC sent the fake accounts case to the National Accountability Bureau for further investigation with a direction to complete the probe within two months.Earlier today, the banking court had extended the bail before arrest of former president Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur till Jan 23.Zardari, Faryal reject JIT reportAsif Zardari and Faryal Talpur denied all the claims made about Zardari Group in the JIT report that was submitted before the Supreme Court.They submitted in their reply in the Supreme Court that the final submissions for order sought by JIT/prayer from the Supreme Court as well as entire JIT report and executive summary may kindly be rejected. In their 17-pages reply submitted in the Supreme Court through their legal team on behalf of Zardari Group (Pvt) Ltd, Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur stated that no wrongdoings have been done by the answering respondents and the JIT report and executive summary are based on surmises and conjectures and are outcome of political victimisation. “The entire report and executive summary are based on misleading facts and without perusal of documents and without even affording a proper opportunity to the answering respondents to give appropriate reply which is violation of Article 10–A of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973,” the reply stated.That JIT Investigation Report No.1 to 27, innumerable documents and statement of witnesses recorded by JIT have not been supplied to the answering respondents and JIT be directed to provide the same including JIT report No 25. There cannot be fair trial without fair investigation which is paramount for due process of law.The JIT report and executive summary have totally ignored replies/answers, justifications and defences given in reply to questions mentioned in questionnaires supplied to Zardari Group (Pvt.) Ltd., Mr. Asif Ali Zardari, Mr. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Mrs. Faryal Talpur with malafide intentions to make out a false, fabricated and concocted case against them.The allegations mentioned in the report other than fake accounts by JIT were never communicated to the respondents for response. The said allegations are beyond the mandate given by Honourable Supreme Court to JIT. Thus the same are outcome of malicious intent with ulterior motives to malign, demean and defame the respondents and the same are strictly denied.The reply stated that the allegations leveled in the JIT report and executive summary against are denied in toto as the same are without any lawful justification and outcome of malicious intent and ulterior motives. That allegations have been levelled in paragraph 26 of the Report that M/s. Park Lane Pvt. Ltd., has beneficial ownership of Mr. Asif Ali Zardari and Mr. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, the same as stated in the JIT report is incorrect, the shareholding in M/s. Park Lane are as stated with the SECP and accordingly shares are held by them as per law.It is further submitted that Mr. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was made Shareholder of M/s. Park Lane on 31-8- 1989, when he was a minor.

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