ISLAMABAD - The Supreme Court will take up review petitions of Sharif family and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar against July 28 judgment on Panama Leaks from September 12.

A three-member bench, headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal, and comprising Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan will hear the review petitions.

On July 28 five-member bench, presided over by Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, had announced the final order on petitions of Imran Khan, Sheikh Rasheed and Sirajul Haq, wherein the National Accountability Bureau was directed to file references in the Accountability Courts within six weeks. The Accountability Courts have been ordered to conclude the trial case within six months.

NAB as per the direction of the apex court filed four corruption references against the Sharif family and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in Islamabad and Rawalpindi Accountability Courts.

Khawaja Haris will represent former premier Nawaz Sharif; Salman Akram Raja will appear on behalf of Maryam Safdar, Hussain Nawaz, Hassan Nawaz and Capt (retd) Muhammad Safdar, while advocate Tariq Hassan has filed review petition on behalf of Ishaq Dar.

Nawaz Sharif was disqualified under section 99(1)(f) of ROPA and Article 62(1)(f) of Constitution on July 28 as member of the National Assembly by three judges Justice Ejaz, Justice Azmat and Justice Ijaz for not withdrawing ‘receivable’ from Capital FZE. While, Justice Khosa and Justice Gulzar Ahmed had disqualified Nawaz Sharif on April 20 due to discrepancies in his and his children statements. However, on July 28 the five-judge bench had ordered the NAB for filing references against Sharif family and Ishaq Dar. They nominated Justice Ijazul Ahsan as the monitoring judge to oversee the filing of references and trial in the Accountability Courts.

The ex-PM and his children and finance minster last month filed the review petitions. They contend that July 28 judgment suffers from errors floating on the surface of the record, besides being per incurium, therefore it liable to be reviewed.

The final order is ‘coram non judice’ as it has been passed by a five-member bench, which had no jurisdiction. Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa and Justice Gulzar had rendered their final judgment on April 20, 2017 and thereafter did not hear the arguments on JIT report and could not have become part of bench, which delivered judgment on July 28.

The ex-PM has filed two review petitions but the points in both of them are almost similar.

The petitioners argued that nomination of apex court judge to supervise and monitor the filing of references in the NAB and then the proceedings of Accountability Courts tantamount to arrogating the apex court role.

They objected to the commendations and appreciations of the hard work and efforts of JIT members and their subordinate staff and termed it a gross transgression of his fundamental rights to fair trial and foreclosing his right to challenge the credibility and biasness of the JIT members.

They contended that the JIT has not filed the complete report despite the court orders, adding the JIT overstepped its authority conferred upon them by the three-judge bench.

The directions to the NAB to file multiple references against the PM and his children are tantamount to assume the functions of Chairman NAB and the judge of Accountability Court.

The former premier said that his disqualification under section 99(f) of ROPA and Article 62(1)(f) for non-disclosure of income from Capital FZE in the nomination papers for general elections 2013 also suffers from error apparent on the face of the record. This ground was not included in the constitutional petitions of Imran Khan, Sheikh Rashid and Siraj ul Haq, he added.

No notice of taking up this ground to disqualify him was ever issued by the court nor he was called upon to make any submission on the jurisdictional or legal aspects of this issue.

Nawaz Sharif said the unanimous judgment of three judges for the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif was issued on the ‘admission’ of his counsel but the bench did not consider his written submission regarding the matter.

The petitioners demanded to dismiss Imran Khan and others petitions in Panama Leaks case and grant stay against the implementation of final order/judgment till the final decision on them.