Resuming the hearing of a plea seeking Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf general secretary Jehangir Khan Tareen's disqualification over alleged tax evasion and non-disclosure of assets, Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that legal means of tax avoidance could not be called 'dishonesty'.
Heading a three-member bench in Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi's plea, seeking disqualification of the PTI chairman Imran Khan from Parliament, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar cited the Panama Papers verdict and said that the major issue in the matter in hand is money trail to purchase property in the United Kingdom.
The bench said that Tareen's counsel has produced Trust deed before the court according to which, his client is a discretionary lifetime beneficiary of his UK properties. During the course of proceedings, Abbasi's counsel said the court would have to examine the conduct of a candidate while deciding the issue of honesty, adding that Jehangir Khan Tareen has not submitted revenue record of the land which he acquired on lease for agriculture purpose.
The counsel further pleaded that according to the Trust deed which Tareen has produced before the court, he is the beneficiary of a trust along with his wife and children, adding that the Trust was established to conceal the ownership of property. However, the Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar observed while addressing the Abbasi's counsel whether he was pointing out that Tareen should have declared the Trust in the nomination papers.
Chief Justice further remarked that Trust is supposed to be the owner of a property which was bought through the legal entity (Trust), adding that Tareen, as the settler of a trust, could not have been the owner of the property. However, Abbasi's counsel contended that Tareen was required to declare assets in the nomination papers to which Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar responded that a trust is not an asset.
The bench was of the view that a beneficiary of some property cannot become its owner whereas it raised a question that whether Tareen was bound to declare the property of Trust. Referring to judgement of the apex court in review pleas of Sharif family in the Panama Papers verdict, Justice Umar Atta Bandial said that it has drawn a distinction between disqualification under election laws and Article 62 (1) of the Constitution.
In his rebuttal, Sikandar Bashir Mohmand, the counsel for Tareen, contended that his client is not the beneficial owner of the trust, saying owner of a trust's funds is the Trust. Sikandar Bashir Mohmand said that if there is hope of receiving something from a Trust then there is no column in the nomination form to declare any expected income. Later, the hearing of the matter was adjourned till today (Thursday).