How Imran got record from non-functional banks, asks SC

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that the record of banking transactions submitted by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan did not show a continuous flow of income.

During the hearing of the case seeking disqualification of Imran Khan for committing tax theft and owning offshore companies, Justice Umar Ata Bandial remarked that only some payments from the Sussex County were mentioned in the banking transactions record, which were not enough to prove a continuous flow of income from cricket played by Imran Khan in England. The court said it wanted to know how much was paid for the purchase of the London flat.

Naeem Bukhari said he was not sure if some banks involved in the transactions were still functional.The chief justice observed that if the banks had been closed, then how Imran acquired the record.

Naeem Bukhari replied that the record was obtained from an old accountant.The court earlier asked whether the PTI chief had enough money to buy the London flat.Responding, Imran Khan’s counsel Naeem Bukhari said his client had played for Worcestershire and Sussex counties in England besides being associated with New South Wales and playing the Kerry Packer World Cricket Series in Australia.

The petition was filed by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi, seeking disqualification of PTI chief and Secretary General Jehangir Tareen for owning offshore companies and acquiring party funds through prohibited and illegal sources. The case was heard by the three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Faisal Arab.

He told the bench that his client had not mentioned his London flat in the tax returns, as he had declared it under the tax amnesty scheme. Naeem Bukhari said since the income earned abroad was not taxable in Pakistan, so taxes were not paid here on the amount spent for the purchase of the flat.

Imran Khan had declared the said property via tax amnesty scheme and it meant that there was no need to declare it in the yearly tax returns again, he claimed.Bukhari said his client had declared the London flat in his nomination papers filed in 2002 for contesting the elections.

Regarding the money trail for purchasing the Bani Gala property, Bukhari presented Rashid Khan as a witness, who testified that he had received money from Imran’s ex-wife Jemima in this regard. He said the issues in the court were related to non-declaration of Niazi Services, tax evasion and unjustified benefits from tax amnesty scheme.

The chief justice observed that the banking transactionsrecord would be got verified.The court observed that Imran first took the stance that he had got money from Jemima and then said Rashid Khan had received the money from Jemima.The court adjourned the hearing of the case until July 31, ordering Bukhari to submit all the necessary documents on Wednesday (today).