—Asks Sheikh to corroborate his claims
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court, during the hearing of Imran Khan’s disqualification case, on Wednesday, asked Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Hanif Abbasi’s counsel Akram Sheikh to corroborate his claims that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) received foreign funding.
A three-member SC bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Faisal Arab, heard the case. The court adjourned the hearing of the case regarding the offshore companies of Imran Khan till Thursday.
Akram Sheikh, continuing his counter-argument, said Imran Khan had submitted a fake certificate before the ECP to show that no donations from prohibited sources were received by the party. After this, how could someone, who submitted a false certificate, be considered ‘Sadiq and Amin’, he asked.
He pleaded the court to disqualify Imran Khan under Article 62 of the Constitution. Justice Umar Ata Bandial asked Akram Sheikh that he would have to prove that the PTI had accepted funds from prohibited sources. Sheikh claimed that foreign corporations had sent $40,760 to the PTI Pakistan. Upon this, the chief justice remarked that the records did not prove it. He remarked that there was a possibility that corporations that funded the PTI were owned by overseas Pakistanis.
Akram Sheikh said that he could not bear the burden of obtaining the certificates of corporations funding the PTI.
On this, the chief justice remarked that there was no such penalty in the Political Party Order (PPO) 2002 for the submission of a fake certificate, and asked Akram Sheikh to corroborate his claims.
He remarked that it was jurisdiction of the ECP to determine that the funds received by a political party were illegal. Akram Sheikh replied that the ECP had denied its authority in that regard. The chief justice observed that the court would decide on the powers of the ECP to probe the case.
Akram Sheikh said the chief justice’s observations from a day earlier warranted further clarification as two English dailies had carried out the same as their news headline that Imran Khan could not be disqualified. He added that an explanation was necessary in that regard.
Akram Sheikh said that the nation should be made aware that the PTI had accepted funds from multinational companies. The PTI had admitted to accepting prohibited funds, he added.
He said prohibited funds could be confiscated as there were laws that allowed confiscation of such funds.
The case was filed by Hanif Abbasi, seeking disqualification of the PTI chairman for concealing assets before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), ownership of an offshore company and running party affairs through foreign funding.