The Supreme Court has dismissed Hussain Nawaz’s objection to the recording of the Panama case Joint Investigation Team (JIT)’s sessions
The three-member is headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and comprises Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh.
The petition sought stoppage of video recording of Panama Papers case JIT proceedings.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan read out the verdict and said the recordings cannot be presented as evidence and is only to be used for maintaining an accurate transcript of the proceedings.
Counsel of Hussain Nawaz,Advocate Khawaja Haris Ahmad plead that video recording of JIT proceedings should not be allowed. He alleged that the JIT had no control over CCTV cameras.
Khawaja Haris expressed concern over leaking of his client’s picture and apprehended that a video could also be leaked.
What was the guarantee that a video would not be leaked, he asked.
Justice Ejaz remarked that video recording was done for maintaining accurate transcripts. The facts of the case could not be affected by the procedure and nature of statements also did not change because of it, he added.
Justice Azmat Saeed observed that the proceedings’ recordings would help the petitioner more than it could hurt him. Justice Azmat Saeed asked the attorney-general if he had read the JIT’s report submitted in the court on Monday. The attorney-general replied that he had not read it so far.
The bench directed the attorney-general to examine the JIT report and submit his response on Thursday.
Allowing the probe body to continue audio/video recordings, the three-judge implementation bench said the person who leaked Hussain Nawaz’s photo had already been identified. They, however, stated that since JIT proceedings cannot be made public, they cannot declare the name of the culprit. The judges also called out the alleged role that the media is playing against the judiciary. Justice Khan said that state institutions, instead of appearing before the court, resort to press conferences and get articles published in their favour. Justice Ahsan said that the case should not be turned into a media trial, adding that after reading the newspapers, we do not feel the need to hear the attorney-general.
