LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has sought responses from 64 politicians, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in connection with a case pertaining to ownership of foreign assets on Monday.
The hearing was conducted by LHC Justice Mamoon Rashid on Monday.
The respondents have until Dec 7 to submit their replies regarding the ownership of foreign assets.
The petition for submission of details of foreign assets was submitted by Barrister Javed Iqbal Jafri. The petitioner in his petition stated that 64 political leaders, including Nawaz, Imran and Zardari, have not submitted the details of their foreign assets. He added that some of the politicians have responded while others are yet to file their responses.
The petitioner claims that respondent politicians had used illegal means to transfer millions of dollars abroad leading to huge losses to the national exchequer. He added that these politicians are yet to submit their affidavits regarding alleged money laundering despite the court sending them repeated court orders.
Moreover, Jafri claimed that if assets of the politicians are brought back to the country, Pakistan would not have to acquire foreign loans.
Subsequently, the LHC on Monday issued directives seeking responses by Dec 7.
As per reports, Jafri had lodged the petition in 1996 against 26 political leaders. The list was later amended to include more names of politicians.