IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN (Original Jurisdiction) PRESENT: Mr. Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa Mr. Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan Mr. Justice Gulzar Ahmed Mr. Justice Sh. Azmat Saeed Mr. Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan Constitution Petition No. 29 of 2016 (Panama Papers Scandal) Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi Petitioner versus Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan / Member National Assembly, Prime Minister’s House, Islamabad and nine others Respondents For the petitioner: Syed Naeem Bokhari, ASC Mr. Sikandar Bashir Mohmad, ASC Mr. Fawad Hussain Ch., ASC Mr. Faisal Fareed Hussain, ASC Ch. Akhtar Ali, AOR with the petitioner in person Assisted by: Mr. Yousaf Anjum, Advocate Mr. Kashif Siddiqui, Advocate Mr. Imad Khan, Advocate Mr. Akbar Hussain, Advocate Barrister Maleeka Bokhari, Advocate Ms. Iman Shahid, Advocate, For respondent No. 1: Mr. Makhdoom Ali Khan, Sr. ASC Mr. Khurram M. Hashmi, ASC Mr. Feisal Naqvi, ASC Assisted by: Mr. Saad Hashmi, Advocate Mr. Sarmad Hani, Advocate Mr. Mustafa Mirza, Advocate For the National Mr. Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, Accountability Bureau Chairman, National Accountability (respondent No. 2): Bureau in person Mr. Waqas Qadeer Dar, Prosecutor- Constitution Petition No. 29 of 2016, 2 Constitution Petition No. 30 of 2016 & Constitution Petition No. 03 of 2017 General Accountability Mr. Arshad Qayyum, Special Prosecutor Accountability Syed Ali Imran, Special Prosecutor Accountability Mr. Farid-ul-Hasan Ch., Special Prosecutor Accountability For the Federation of Mr. Ashtar Ausaf Ali, Attorney-General Pakistan for Pakistan (respondents No. 3 & Mr. Nayyar Abbas Rizvi, Additional 4): Attorney-General for Pakistan Mr. Gulfam Hameed, Deputy Solicitor, Ministry of Law & Justice Assisted by: Barrister Asad Rahim Khan Mr. Salaar Khan, Advocate Mr. Bilal Naseer, Advocate Mr. Shahzaib Khan, Advocate For the Federal Board Dr. Muhammad Irshad, Chairman, of Revenue Federal Board of Revenue in person (respondent No. 5): Mr. Muhammad Waqar Rana, ASC Mr. M. S. Khattak, AOR Kh. Tanvir Ahmed, Director-General (Intelligence) Mr. Shaukat Ali, Director-General Hafiz Muhammad Ali Indhar, Director (Legal) Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Khawaja, Member, Federal Board of Revenue For respondents No. 6, Mr. Shahid Hamid, Sr. ASC 9 & 10: Ms. Ayesha Hamid, ASC Syed Rifaqat Hussain Shah, AOR For respondents No. 7 Mr. Salman Akram Raja, ASC & 8: Syed Rifaqat Hussain Shah, AOR Assisted by: Malik Ahsan Mahmood, Advocate Malik Ghulam Sabir, Advocate Mr. Nadeem Shahzad Hashmi, Advocate Mr. Asad Ladha, Advocate Mr. Zeshaan Hashmi, Advocate Ms. Atira Ikram, Advocate Mr. Tariq Bashir, Advocate Mr. Muhammad Shakeel Mughal, Advocate Constitution Petition No. 29 of 2016, 3 Constitution Petition No. 30 of 2016 & Constitution Petition No. 03 of 2017 Constitution Petition No. 30 of 2016 (Panama Papers Scandal) Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed Petitioner versus Federation of Pakistan through Secretary Law, Justice and Parliamentary Division and three others Respondents For the petitioner: In person For the Federation of Mr. Ashtar Ausaf Ali, Attorney-General Pakistan for Pakistan (respondent No. 1): Mr. Nayyar Abbas Rizvi, Additional Attorney-General for Pakistan Mr. Gulfam Hameed, Deputy Solicitor, Ministry of Law & Justice Assisted by: Barrister Asad Rahim Khan Mr. Salaar Khan, Advocate Mr. Bilal Naseer, Advocate Mr. Shahzaib Khan, Advocate For the National Mr. Qamar Zaman Chaudhry, Accountability Bureau Chairman, National Accountability (respondent No. 2): Bureau in person Mr. Waqas Qadeer Dar, Prosecutor- General Accountability Mr. Arshad Qayyum, Special Prosecutor Accountability Syed Ali Imran, Special Prosecutor Accountability Mr. Farid-ul-Hasan Ch., Special Prosecutor Accountability For the Federal Board Dr. Muhammad Irshad, Chairman, of Revenue Federal Board of Revenue in person (respondent No. 3): Mr. Muhammad Waqar Rana, ASC Mr. M. S. Khattak, AOR Kh. Tanvir Ahmed, Director-General (Intelligence) Mr. Shaukat Ali, Director General Hafiz Muhammad Ali Indhar, Director (Legal) Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Khawaja, Member, Federal Board of Revenue For respondent No. 4: Mr. Makhdoom Ali Khan, Sr. ASC Mr. Khurram M. Hashmi, ASC Constitution Petition No. 29 of 2016, 4 Constitution Petition No. 30 of 2016 & Constitution Petition No. 03 of 2017 Mr. Feisal Naqvi, ASC Assisted by: Mr. Saad Hashmi, Advocate Mr. Sarmad Hani, Advocate Mr. Mustafa Mirza, Advocate Constitution Petition No. 03 of 2017 (Panama Papers Scandal) Siraj-ul-Haq, Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Petitioner versus Federation of Pakistan through Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Islamabad and three others Respondents For the petitioner: Mr. Taufiq Asif, ASC Sh. Ahsan-ud-Din, ASC Mr. Atif Ali Khan, ASC Mr. Mehmood A. Sheikh, AOR with the petitioner in person. Assisted by: Mr. Khan Afzal Khan, ASC Mr. Ajmal Ghaffar Toor, Advocate Mr. Saif Ullah Gondal, Advocate Mr. Sher Hamid Khan, Advocate Mr. Imran Shafiq, Advocate Mr. Asad Ullah Bhutto, Advocate For the Federation of Mr. Ashtar Ausaf Ali, Attorney- Pakistan General for Pakistan (respondents No. 1 to 3): Mr. Nayyar Abbas Rizvi, Additional Attorney-General for Pakistan Mr. Gulfam Hameed, Deputy Solicitor, Ministry of Law & Justice Assisted by: Barrister Asad Rahim Khan Mr. Salaar Khan, Advocate Mr. Bilal Naseer, Advocate Mr. Shahzaib Khan, Advocate For respondent No. 4: Mr. Makhdoom Ali Khan, Sr. ASC Mr. Khurram M. Hashmi, ASC Mr. Feisal Naqvi, ASC Assisted by: Mr. Saad Hashmi, Advocate Constitution Petition No. 29 of 2016, 5 Constitution Petition No. 30 of 2016 & Constitution Petition No. 03 of 2017 Mr. Sarmad Hani, Advocate Mr. Mustafa Mirza, Advocate Dates of hearing: 04.01.2017, 05.01.2017, 06.01.2017, 09.01.2017, 10.01.2017, 11.01.2017, 12.01.2017, 13.01.2017, 16.01.2017, 17.01.2017, 18.01.2017, 19.01.2017, 20.01.2017, 23.01.2017, 24.01.2017, 25.01.2017, 26.01.2017, 27.01.2017, 30.01.2017, 31.01.2017, 01.02.2017, 15.02.2017, 16.02.2017, 21.02.2017, 22.02.2017 & 23.02.2017. JUDGMENT Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, J.: The popular 1969 novel ‘The Godfather’ by Mario Puzo recounted the violent tale of a Mafia family and the epigraph selected by the author was fascinating: Behind every great fortune there is a crime. — Balzac The novel was a popular sensation which was made into an acclaimed film. It is believed that this epigraph was inspired by a sentence that was written by Honoré de Balzac and its original version in French reads as follows: Le secret des grandes fortunes sans cause apparente est un crime oublié, parce qu’il a été proprement fait. (The secret of a great success for which you are at a loss to account is a crime that has never been found out, because it was properly executed) It is ironical and a sheer coincidence that the present case revolves around that very sentence attributed to Balzac as through Constitution Petition No. 29 of 2016 it has been alleged by the petitioner namely Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi, Chairman of a political party named Tehreek-e-Insaf, that while holding high public offices in the State of Pakistan over a stretched period of time respondent No. 1 namely Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, the incumbent Prime Minister of Pakistan, and through him his Constitution Petition No. 29 of 2016, 6 Constitution Petition No. 30 of 2016 & Constitution Petition No. 03 of 2017 immediate family has amassed huge wealth and assets which have been acquired through means which were illegal and unfair, practices which were unlawful and corrupt and exercise of public authority which was misused and abused. Through Constitution Petition No. 30 of 2016 Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed petitioner, Chairman of a political party named Awami Muslim League, and through Constitution Petition No. 3 of 2017 Siraj-ul-Haq petitioner, Ameer of another political party named Jamaat-e-Islami, have also agitated the same issue. All the above mentioned petitioners have inter alia prayed that it may be declared by this Court that respondent No. 1 in Constitution Petition No. 29 of 2016 (who is respondent No. 4 in the other two petitions) is not “honest” and “ameen” within the purview of Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 and, thus, he is disqualified from being a member of the Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament). Some other reliefs have also been prayed for by the petitioners and the same shall also be dealt with by me at appropriate stages of the present judgment. For facility of reference Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif shall be referred to in this judgment as respondent No. 1, his daughter namely Mariam Safdar shall be referred to as respondent No. 6, his son-in-law namely Captain (Retired) Muhammad Safdar shall be referred to as respondent No. 9, his sons namely Mr. Hussain Nawaz Sharif and Mr. Hassan Nawaz Sharif shall be referred to as respondents No. 7 and 8 respectively and his Samdhi (father-in-law of one of his daughters) namely Mr. Muhammad Ishaq Dar shall be referred to as respondent No. 10 as arrayed in Constitution Petition No. 29 of 2016. We have been informed by the learned counsel for respondent No. 1 that the said respondent has so far held the following high public offices: Minister for Finance, Excise and Taxation, Government of the Punjab (from April 25, 1981 to February 28, 1985) Chief Minister, Government of the Punjab (from April 09, 1985 to May 30, 1988) Caretaker Chief Minister, Government of the Punjab (from May 31, 1988 to December 02, 1988) Chief Minister, Government of the Punjab Constitution Petition No. 29 of 2016, 7 Constitution Petition No. 30 of 2016 & Constitution Petition No. 03 of 2017 (from December 02, 1988 to August 06, 1990) Prime Minister of Pakistan (from November 06, 1990 to April 18, 1993) Prime Minister of Pakistan (from May 26, 1993 to July 18, 1993) Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly (from October 19, 1993 to November 05, 1996) Prime Minister of Pakistan (from February 17, 1997 to October 12, 1999) Prime Minister of Pakistan (from June 05, 2013 till date) A younger brother of respondent No.