ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar on Wednesday observed that the apex court is examining the cases of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan and party leader Jahangir Tareen closely and the verdict will be issued at once in both cases.
A three-member bench of the apex court ─ headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Atta Bandial and Justice Faisal Arab ─ adjourned the hearing of a petition filed against PTI Chairman Imran Khan and Secretary General Jahangir Tareen till October 18 (tomorrow).
The petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi seeks the disqualification of Khan and Tareen over the alleged non-disclosure of assets, existence of offshore companies, as well as receiving foreign funding for PTI on Wednesday.
In Wednesday’ proceedings into Jahangir Tareen’s case, the PTI leader’s lawyer Advocate Sikander Mohmand submitted more revenue records of his client.
CJ Nisar also remarked that he has to go to Sri Lanka before October 26 for SAARC conference. Meanwhile, talking to reporters, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry hoped that the case was in the last phase and he hoped that it will be concluded before October 26.
A day after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan claimed that he had submitted the entire money trail of his Banigala property to the Supreme Court, the apex court bench hearing the disqualification case against him and Tareen on Tuesday expressed its reservations over the documents submitted by both men in support of their respective claims.
On Monday, Imran had submitted additional documents before the apex court, seeking to provide a money trail of nearly 100,000 pounds that the SC had raised questions over.
During Tuesday’s hearing, the chief justice remarked that the record of the sum is being submitted before the court in pieces and is inconsistent. He noted that Imran had not yet submitted any record before the court to help determine whether or not the amount had been spent on legal fees.
Furthermore, Justice Bandial added that no record had been provided regarding 27,000 pounds out of the total sum.
Imran’s counsel Naeem Bukhari told the court that on May 26, 2003, the PTI chief’s former wife, Jemima Khan, had transferred 93,000 pounds to Imran for the purchase of the Banigala property. He added that the amount was received by Imran in pieces; he first received 40,000 pounds and then 42,000 pounds.
The court ordered the petitioner to file his response before the bench.
TAREEN’S YET TO SUBMIT COMPLETE RECORD: During Tuesday’s proceedings, the counsel representing Jahangir Tareen told the apex court that his client had submitted all the records pertaining to 18,566 acres of land which he had acquired through a lease.
However, the court reminded Advocate Sikander Mohmand that his client has yet to submit the khusrabandi and malia records which the bench had sought during a hearing on Oct 5 along with other relevant revenue records showing how much money Tareen had paid to the lessor to get lease of 18,566 acres of land in 2010 as well as evidence proving that he had earned around Rs1.6 billion agriculture income from the said land.
The bench observed that the deeds of the leased lands of Tareen were not registered with the revenue department. It said that the deeds alone could bring out true facts about the respondent’s leased lands.
The lawyer told the court that records of the tax paid by Tareen on water and electricity have been furnished before the court. He maintained that the owner of the land — and not his client — was liable to pay taxes on the land.
The court, however, again ordered the lawyer to submit the revenue records.
The hearing was adjourned until Wednesday.
