Imran, Tareen far away from satisfying SC

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and its Secretary General Jehangir Tareen are still a long way from satisfying a Supreme Court bench about the genuineness and authenticity of the documents submitted by them to prove that they are honest and righteous as per the constitutional calls.

More than once, the three-member panel headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Faisal Arab has expressed dissatisfaction over the papers produced before it. On Tuesday, the chief justice remarked that authenticity of the documents filed by Imran Khan and Tareen was still under question. “These documents must have been submitted earlier.”

Some Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders have raised the question as to why Imran Khan has been allowed to submit more documents even after the proceedings against him have been wrapped up.

Justice Bandial questioned how the expenses were met since the PTI chief’s offshore company, Niazi Services Limited (NSL), did not own the properties after the sale of his London flat.

The chief justice observed that Tareen has no official proof to establish that he had cultivated 18,564 acres of land, and that the record of the sum is being submitted by Imran Khan in pieces and is inconsistent. In one of its hearings, the panel had observed that the proofs submitted by Imran Khan at one time were in conflict with the evidence produced at another time.

Every time while handing over the new documents to the bench, Imran Khan and his spokesmen vociferously claim with immense fanfare that the disqualification case, alleging non-disclosure of assets and existence of offshore wealth, was now totally over as all the requisite papers have been delivered to the bench.

After filing the new documents, Imran Khan said on Twitter that his record of £672,000 was now before the apex court in entirety. Thanks to Almighty Allah and Jemima Khan’s record keeping, he, posted, he has now submitted all additional money trail documents asked for by the court. The position now taken by the PTI chief is in direct conflict with the previous one. “The position taken earlier regarding the remaining £100,000 retained by NSL in 2003 was based on memory, incorrect advice, absence of the requisite records and lack of documentary information,” he conceded.

Previously, he had claimed that some 99,000 pounds had been spent on legal fees and associated costs, and that the amount had only initially been retained in the bank account of the NSL but parts of it were later remitted to him by the company.

The chief justice noted that Imran Khan had not yet filed any record to help determine whether or not the amount had been spent on legal fees. His bank statement has now revealed that the account for NSL was active well after the sale of his London apartment and money was transferred to him in the fiscal year 2007-08.

He admitted for the first time that the NSL was also operating a euro account and listed money received through euro transactions. An amount of €42,456 was received from NSL in two transactions of €20,000 and €22,456.70 on July 4, 2007, and March 4, 2008, respectively. These were converted into rupees and declared to tax authorities in Pakistan.

The terms of the settlement by their solicitors show that a euro account had been operated by the directors and shareholders to receive payments from the former tenants. They were not required to be declared to the ECP as Imran Khan ceased to be a member of the National Assembly in October 2007, he said. To the best of his information, the PTI chief submitted that the NSL was de-notified in 2012 and its ghostly paper existence came to an end for non-filing of annual returns. It was reiterated that any income from the sale of the London flat was not taxable in Pakistan and was dissipated while all the money remitted by Jemima Khan or NSL was duly declared in Pakistan.

Petitioner Hanif Abbasi’s legal team is of the view that this is the ninth statement submitted by Imran Khan wherein he has stated that his offshore company was closed in 2012.

The PTI chairman first submitted that £40,000 were remitted to him from the NSL account on May 17, 2004, which was not in his knowledge earlier. However, he said the same amount was declared before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

The chief justice remarked at a function in Lahore three days back that justice hurried is justice buried. Apparently in the light of this opinion, Imran Khan has been provided ample time to prove his claims about his assets and offshore company. However, the case is dragging since a long time unlike the petitions against ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members, which were decided at a fast pace by a different bench.

The speed adopted by an Islamabad accountability court in dealing with the four references against them and Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar is unheard of as it has to decide them in just six months as ordered by the panel that had decided the Panama case.