- Counsel says sale, purchase merely tales, a matter of money laundering
The Supreme Court on Monday asked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to submit details of money trail on purchase of land for his Bani Gala land.
A three-member Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar continued hearing of the case filed by Pakistan Muslim League-N leader Hanif Abbasi for disqualification of the PTI chairman. During the proceedings, petitioner’s counsel Advocate Akram Sheikh submitted his evidence against what he termed a false statement by Imran Khan regarding the party funding.
He pleaded the court to disqualify the PTI chief from the National Assembly. He said that Imran Khan made false statements in his tax returns as he submitted different documents including his bank statements, payment for the Bani Gala house and wealth tax statements. “He is no longer Sadiq and Ameen,” Akram Sheikh said.
He said that Imran’s London flat was owned by the Niazi Services Limited and after the sale of the apartment, the offshore company became a shell company. Also, the counsel filed a request to bring forth documents regarding the details of Imran’s bank accounts, along with those of his former spouse Jemima Khan, and the CitiBank account of one Rashid Ali Khan.
He pleaded the court to ask the PTI chief for details of a transaction where he transferred $660,693 from Jemima’s account. Akram Sheikh said that if someone does not state his foreign income in his wealth or income tax statements, then he was no longer Sadiq or Ameen. The chief justice remarked that the counsel’s point is that the PTI chief should have mentioned his flat in London and declared his offshore company in his tax returns.
“By quoting relevant laws, can you explain how, if a property is declared via an amnesty scheme, a person can be disqualified,” the chief justice asked Akram Sheikh who replied that the flat was sold for approximately $600,000. The Bani Gala estate was bought for approximately $300,000. Chief Justice Nisar remarked that a person cannot be disqualified on mere assumptions.
The counsel said that the matter was criminal in nature. He said that the sale of the London flats and the purchase of the Bani Gala land were merely tales and this was a matter of money laundering. Justice Umer Atta Bandial asked the counsel if he was trying to say Imran Khan’s claim that his Bani Gala land was not a gift.
Akram Sheikh replied that the Bani Gala property was a ‘benami’ and it could not have been a gift. The chief justice remarked that this was a matter between a husband and wife. “If Jemima declared the property as a gift then what objections can be raised against it,” he asked. Akram Sheikh said that the court had always dealt justice uniformly and he had complete confidence in the court. Later, hearing of the case was adjourned till Tuesday.