Supreme Court on Friday rejected a petition seeking disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan as member of Parliament over non-declaration of assets, but disqualified the party's General Secretary Jahangir Khan Tareen under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Hanif Abbasi had filed petition against both the PTI leaders late last year for concealing financial assets, owning offshore companies and heading a foreign-funded party.
Announcing its 143-page verdict to the extent of Imran Khan matter, a three-member bench led by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar said the petitioner has no locus standi and there is no merit in the petition. Referring the matter to Election Commission of Pakistan to decide whether or not the PTI has received political contributions and donations from the sources prohibited under the Political Parties Order (PPO) 2002, the bench directed the ECP to determine the issue by exercising jurisdiction under the PPO.
"The alleged falsity of the certificates issued by the respondent (Imran Khan) under Article 13(2) of the PPO is a secondary fact, ascertainable by a competent court of law after the ECP gives its findings whether any prohibited funding has been received and collected by the PTI in terms of Article 6(3) of the PPO," the judgement said.
Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar said the court has found that Khan was not liable to declare offshore company Niazi Services Ltd in his 2013 nomination papers as he was not a shareholder or director of the company. The judgment said that the money trail provided by Imran Khan sufficiently covers the Banigala property's purchase price, the funds provided by Jemima, Khan's ex-wife, and the proceeds from the sale of Khan's apartment in London.
The verdict said that the Banigala property was Khan's property, adding he had bought the land for his family but was gifted the property by Jemima Khan. While declaring Jahangir Khan Tareen disqualified through its 80-page verdict, the bench held that he is not honest in terms of Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution read with Section 99(1)(f) of ROPA.
The bench said that Tareen had established an offshore company, Shiny View Limited (SVL), which has legal title of a property measuring 12 acres of land known as 'Hyde House' in Ecchinswell, the UK. Declaring Tareen as an actual, true, real and beneficial owner of the Hyde House, the court said in its verdict, "Respondent has sent around more than Rs 500 million at the exchange rate prevalent at that time and claims that amount was utilized for the purposes of purchase and construction of Hyde House."
The verdict said that the SVL or Hyde House was never transferred to any trust by Jahangir Khan Tareen, thus, it is his asset which he has failed to declare in nomination papers on September 9, 2015 to contest the by-elections from NA-154, Lodhran-I. "In making untrue statement before the apex court that he has no beneficial interest in SVL, he should cease to hold the office as the member of the National Assembly with immediate effect," the ruling further said.
It has also been stated in the judgment that Tareen may have committed the offence of insider trading, but could not be judged for having committed a crime because of the terms of his settlement with the Securities and Exchange Corporation of Pakistan (SECP). The court ruled that the matter had been closed by the SECP after Tareen paid a fine, and so could not be used as a ground to disqualify him.
On the matter of alleged misrepresentation and short payment of agricultural income tax by Tareen, the court said it would not issue a declaration on it because the matter was currently sub judice in multiple courts. Earlier, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar said while addressing a jam-packed courtroom that the delay in the verdict, which was announced more than an hour late, was due to a mistake on one page. "We had to go through the entire 250-page document," he explained.
Earlier on Friday, Supreme Court turned down an appeal of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) seeking reopening of the Hudaibiya Paper Mills case against the Sharif family. A three-member bench led by Justice Mushir Alam, heard the appeal against a 2014 decision of the Lahore High Court (LHC) to quash the reference.
The bench reserved its judgement on the maintainability of the anti-graft watchdog's appeal in the Rs 1.2 billion money laundering scam after NAB's Special Prosecutor Imranul Haq concluded his arguments. Later, the court announced the verdict and rejected NAB's plea, saying the reasons of the order will be issued later.
During the course of proceedings, the bench expressed concerns over violation of its order seeking a ban on television talk shows discussing merits and demerits of the case. The bench questioned Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority's (Pemra) inaction against TV channels airing such contents.
It is pertinent to mention here that on December 12, the apex court had directed NAB to provide 'incriminating evidences' against the Sharifs to establish their criminal offence under the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO).
The bench had also sought detail of the evidences collected by the NAB and later by a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in the Panama Papers case. It had directed the NAB to establish money trail to prove the alleged criminal offence.
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