ISLAMABAD – The Supreme court of Pakistan winded up the hearing procedure in a case pertaining to the disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan here on Tuesday.
The court remarked that the documents submitted in the disqualification case should be verified and free from any doubt.
The remarks were made by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar who is heading a three-judge bench, including Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Faisal Arab, to hear the petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz leader Haneef Abbasi against Imran Khan.
At the start of Tuesday’s hearing, the bench inquired about the absence of Imran’s counsel Naeem Bukhari, to which PTI lawyer Anwar Mansoor replied that Bukhari was submitting documents at the time.
On the other hand, Abbasi’s counsel Akram Sheikh argued that the documents submitted by the PTI were suspicious, adding that the signatures on the two letters earlier submitted did not match.
In response, Justice Nisar observed that the bench noted this observation at the last hearing.
“There are other mistakes along with the tax number and signature,” he remarked.
The Chief Justice highlighted that even if the Bani Gala estate was ‘benami’ [not in actual owner’s name], the actual owner was Imran’s ex-wife, Jemima.
He observed that the trail of only 6.5 percent of the funds has not been proved by the respondent.
“It was said that Niazi Services Limited was formed to avoid the taxes on the London flats and Imran’s personal funds were also deposited in the Niazi Services Limited’s account,” he added.
Justice Saqib Nisar continued that the details of the account from 2003 onwards have not been provided, and, according to the petitioner, the 99,000 pounds present in the account should have been declared as well.
To the arguments of Akram Sheikh, Justice Umar Atta Bandial responded that “you are assigning us the role of an accountant” reminding him to consider the scope of his case.
The top court concluded the hearing into the case and the verdict will be announced when hearing into petitions against PTI’s leader Jahangir Tareen will be complete.
During last week’s hearing, the apex court seemed to be dissatisfied with Bukhari’s arguments.
The PTI counsel had said that an email had been sent to Imran’s former wife Jemima Khan, who had confirmed receiving 75,000 pounds and assured that she would send the bank details after finding them.
To this, the bench had said that the documents did not prove that Imran Khan had brought money back from London.
