Justice Isa's wife submits written replies to FBR.

ISLAMABAD -- The wife of Justice Qazi Faez Isa on Thursday submitted written replies to the commissioner of offshore taxation, Islamabad zone, in compliance with the Supreme Court's judgement in the offshore property case.

The Supreme Court had directed the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) through its short order on June 20 to seek explanation on the nature and source of funding for three offshore properties in the United Kingdom from Justice Isa's wife, Cerina M. Isa, and his two children - Arsalan Faez Isa and Sehar Isa. The direction was issued as part of squashing of a presidential reference against Justice Isa.

Ms Cerina Isa reached the office of the commissioner Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) Zone Islamabad, Zulfiqar Khan, who deals with offshore taxation. She submitted written replies personally in response to three notices issued to her and her two children.

Normally tax proceedings do not require presence of the taxpayer and cases can be pleaded through a lawyer or through email or mail correspondence. However, Ms Cerina (Zarina) personally submitted the replies.

In Spanish, Zarina is spelt as 'Cerina'.

Status of replies may be cleared within three to four days

Notices were issued under section 176 of the income tax ordinance to seek explanation from the spouse of Justice Isa and his two children regarding source and purchase of the three properties. This section give an opportunity to a taxpayer to explain his or her position regarding the assets.

The commissioner's office will now scrutinise the written replies, according to a source in the FBR. The status of the replies would be cleared within three to four days, the source said, adding it was possible to give further opportunity of explanation in case of insufficient information under the same section.

The status of further notice depends on the nature of contents in the written replies, another source told Dawn. Asked about the show-cause notice, the source said it would be cleared in the next few days.

The AEOI pasted notice outside the residence of Justice Isa after three notices went undelivered.

The Supreme Court has limited the scope of investigation only to three UK-based properties. These properties were bought between 2003 and 2013.

The first property was purchased in the name of Ms Cerina Isa in 2004 for 236,000 pounds, the second one in 2013 in...