Beyond 20 years: counties Imran played for have no salary payment record, SC told

Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan reiterated on Saturday that he never remained involved in money laundering, saying he was a professional cricketer and entirely self-sufficient in relation to all financial obligations throughout his overseas career.
On July 13, while hearing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi's plea seeking disqualification of Imran Khan and Jahangir Khan Tareen over alleged violations of the Income Tax Ordinance 1979 and the People's Act 1974 Supreme Court had asked Imran Khan's counsel to submit the money trail of his client's London flat. Filing the record of financial details in pursuance of the apex court's directives, Naeem Bokhari, the counsel for Khan, submitted that while studying at Oxford, Imran had been selected to play cricket for Pakistan. He also played for Worcestershire from 1971 and for Sussex from 1977 to 1988.
He said that all payments made to Imran Khan were income tax deducted at source, adding during his term as a professional cricketer with Sussex county his contract for each season was for a period of not less than six months. "On account of the number of days spent outside Pakistan to fulfil his commitment to Sussex country cricket and to participate in other international cricketing events during that period, Imran Khan was non resident for the purposes of application of Pakistan's income tax law," Bokhari said.
Khan's counsel further said that his client played for Kerry Packer Series form 1977 to 1979 at US $25,000 per year, adding that at that point of time the US dollar was equivalent to that of Great Britain's pound sterling. Bokhari said that air fares, boarding, lodging, prize monies and product endorsements were in addition to earnings of Imran Khan. He apprised the court that neither English counties he played for maintained salary records beyond 20 years and therefore none is available. Bokhari also filed a letter of Chief Executive Sussex Cricket London which endorsed Imran Khan's claim that he received a salary from 1977 to 1988 after deduction of applicable taxes but the club retains no record of the salary paid to him. A three-member bench led by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and justice Faisal Arab, will resume the hearing of the PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi's plea on July 25.