A five-member bench of Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) headed by chief election commissioner on Thursday dismissed disqualification references against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Imran Khan and Jehangir Khan Tareen.
In its short ruling, Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan remarked that the references were unmaintainable and did not qualify for hearing.
The references had been filed with National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq by PML-N lawmakers in August. Deeming the references valid, the speaker had forwarded them to the ECP in September. But the NA Speaker had rejected a similar reference filed by leaders against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The reference against Imran Khan mentioned his offshore company and properties abroad, income, the fact that he had not disclosed an investment to the ECP and his alleged misstatements about his Bani Gala house.
It alleged that Khan had purchased a flat in London through an offshore company in 1983 and did not disclose this fact until 2016.
Another allegation against him was about his sprawling Bani Gala residence, which he had declared to be a gift from his ex-wife. However, the record shows that he claimed to have purchased the land at a rate of Rs145,000 per kanal in 2011.
"Khan gifted Rs6.5 million to his ex-wife Jemima Khan in the year 2001-02. She purchased 45 kanals of land at Mohra Noor, Islamabad, with that amount. Later, she transferred that land to Mr Khan, who declared it a gift in his wealth statements filed with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). [This] establishes that the gift-back arrangement was made by Mr Khan to launder his black money.