KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday filed a review petition seeking removal of his name from a report by a joint investigation team probing the long-running money laundering and fake bank accounts case. Bilawal, in his petition, has asked the Supreme Court of Pakistan to review its written order which, in contrast to its verbal order earlier, does not mention removal of his name from the JIT report. The Supreme Court, on January 17, had finally released its detailed order pertaining to the removal of the names of PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto as well as Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah from the Exit Control List (ECL). The apex court, however, had referred the report and material collected by the JIT in the Rs35 billion fake accounts case to the National Accountability Bureau.

The court, in its verbal order, gave directions for removal of his name from the JIT report as well, but its written order did not mention the matter, Bilawal has said in the petition. The petition states that the JIT never summoned Bilawal and listed its observations in the report without ever hearing what he had to say about the case. The court’s written order cannot be different from its verbal order, the petition adds. The JIT acknowledged that it had insufficient material against Bilawal, and that his name was mentioned in the report by mistake, the petition further states, and questions the inclusion of members from intelligence agencies in the JIT. It further questions the jurisdiction of the court in taking suo motu notice of an issue. The federal cabinet, after receiving the written order from the Supreme Court, had decided to remove the names of Bilawal and CM Shah from the ECL, but had refused to excise their names from the JIT report on the fake accounts. Monitoring Desk