ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) has accepted the review petition filed by Justice Qazi Faez Isa’s wife Sarina Isa and bar councils in the presidential reference against the judge.
A 10-member full bench heard the case and reserved its verdict earlier in the day. The petition has been approved 6-4. The dissenting judges include Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, Justice Muneeb Akhtar, and Justice Qazi Amin
No verdict could be reached on the review petition filed by Justice Isa five judges approved it and five dismissed it. Justice Yahya Afridi was one of the dissenting judges, he remarked that the Supreme Court judge should not have challenged the verdict himself.
Justice Isa and his wife had challenged the apex court’s order on the presidential reference seeking the removal of Justice Isa for failing to disclose foreign properties of his family members.
In June 2020, the top court quashed the reference and declared the show-cause notice issued to the judge by the Supreme Judicial Council null and void.
The court, however, ordered the FBR to issue appropriate notices to the judge’s family and children under the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001. Three judges, Justice Maqbool Baqar, Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, and Justice Yahya Afridi wrote dissenting notes in the case.
Sarina Isa said, in her review petition, that the judgment was given without hearing her viewpoint.
This is one of the rare few times when the top court has approved a review appeal against his verdict. The judgments aren’t reviewed unless there is some discrepancy in the records.
On June 2, 2019 the government confirmed that a presidential reference had been filed in the Supreme Judicial Council against the judge for owning foreign assets. Justice Isa has been accused of misconduct over failure to declare his wife and children’s UK properties. According to the judge, his wife and children have on their names three properties in the W2, E10, and E11 areas of London.
Justice Isa challenged the reference in the top court. He asked that the reference should be quashed and PM’s Assets Recovery Unit be termed null and void. He even asked for action to be taken against Special Assistant on Accountability Shahzad Akbar.
Sarina Isa, the wife of Justice Isa, revealed the details of her London properties to the Supreme Court of Pakistan while recording her statement via a video link. She even submitted her money trail, tax records, bank documents, and property papers to the court.
She revealed that she bought one property for £23,600 in 2004, another for £270,000, which is under her and her daughter’s name, and the third one for £245,000 in 2013. Her son lives in one of the properties and has put the other two on rent.
Justice Qazi Faez Isa, who is in line to become the chief justice of Pakistan, has accused in a petition the PTI government of spying on him to discover his family’s properties.
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