News @ 3 - 27th July 2017

ISLAMABAD: The three-member bench of Supreme Court on Thursday noted that the disqualification petition against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Jahangir Khan Tareen over non disclosure of funds collection, assets and offshore company required further investigation same as the Panama Papers probe.

The bench was hearing a petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi seeking disqualification of PTI chairman Imran Khan and Tareen over non disclosure of assets, offshore companies, and receiving funds from prohibited sources for the party.

As the hearing resumed on Thursday, PML-N Hanif Abbasi’s counsel began presenting his arguments to the court.

Abbasi’s counsel apprised the bench that Tareen declared his agriculture revenue Rs540 million to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) whereas the same source of revenue was shown Rs120 million to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

To which the bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, queried the petitioner’s counsel about evidences with regard to Tareen’s offshore properties.

The three-member bench is headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and comprises Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Faisal Arab.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial observed that the petitioner has not provided any material relating Tareen’s offshore company. He queried the motive behind bringing the matter of offshore company forward without having sufficient evidences corroborating the petitioner’s claims.

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar said: “It is the matter between income tax authorities and Tareen if he has not paid the due income tax [as per the annual income]”.

He said this is not the concern of top court and the bench is merely concerned taking up issue of being ‘Sadiq’ (truthful) and ‘Amin’ (trustworthy) in the petition against Mr. Tareen.

Adjourning the hearing, the three-judge bench directed the PTI general secretary to submit all documents at once including his children’s income tax returns and offshore company details within 10 days.