- PTI chairman admits his offshore company to save Capital Gain Tax; one flat in London
Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Tuesday expressed his wonder that Pakistan Tehreek-Insaf (PTI) was questioning the jurisdiction of the apex court and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) while rejecting the allegations of foreign funding.
The chief justice gave the observation while heading a three-member SC bench, which heard Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi’s petition seeking disqualification of the PTI chairman for concealing offshore companies and receiving foreign funds.
During the proceedings, Imran’s counsel Anwar Mansoor Khan took the plea that the petition was non-maintainable under Article 184 (3). “As per the Political Parties Act, if allegations against any party of receiving funds from a foreign country or multi-national company proved, the federal government is bound to send a reference to the Supreme Court within 15 days,” he said.
Mansoor said that the declaration for foreign funds being received by a political party could only be issued by the federal government, while the apex court took a decision on the reference sent by it. Then, the counsel pleaded the court to constitute a commission to probe the foreign funding allegations against the party (PTI). Upon which, the Chief Justice Nisar asked as to why not the matter be referred to the ECP.
The Counsel replied that the ECP’s jurisdiction ended with the allotment of the election symbols to political parties. Justice Umer Ata Bandial remarked that the ECP had full powers to hold elections as well as investigations. Earlier, the PTI chief submitted details of purchase of the Bani Gala land and bank accounts on the issue of offshore company in the case.
In a 35-page reply, Imran admitted that he was advised to form an offshore company (Niazi Services Limited) to save on Capital Gain Tax, and that the company owned one flat in London. The affidavit documents the journey of the Bani Gala home from Jemima Khan and how money was provided after selling London flats and Rashid Ali Khan, a former banker, facilitated the transaction.
In his affidavit, Imran wrote that he has played cricket from 1971 till 1991 and payed taxes on all his income. Also Imran attested that he takes full responsibility of his party funding in the words ‘the deponent as chairman PTI’ has certified the accounts of PTI to be correct and true and accurate based on certificate received from abroad and the audit done by the chartered accountants, reads the affidavit.
The affidavit also reads that post-retirement income of Imran comes from the cricket commentary, lectures, royalty from books (four in all) which are more than enough for the deponents needs. Interestingly, the documents miss the accounts details of Jemima Khan, his former wife. During the last hearing, the court had asked Imran to submit details of his accounts and his former wife, and other important documents pertaining to money trail of the funding.
The hearing was adjourned till Wednesday (today).