The Supreme Court (SC) is all set to take up two important petitions on Thursday; a review petition filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Khan Tareen against his disqualification by the apex court and a review petition filed by PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi against the acquittal of Prime Minister Imran Khan in a misdeclaration of assets case.
A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, will hear both petitions.
Tareen had been disqualified in December 2017 under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution by the Supreme Court on a petition filed by Abbasi for misdeclaration of assets. The disqualification was made on the same provision under which former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was held ineligible to hold public office for life in the Panama Papers case.
In the review petition against his disqualification, Tareen has informed the court that he could not present legal instruments and specific documents regarding his trust – Shiny View Limited (SVL) – and a property – Hyde House – during the course of litigation because they were not in his personal knowledge, possession or control.
The PTI stalwart argues in the petition, filed through his counsel, Sikandar Bashir Mohmand that these documents are being furnished before the court now.
“My understanding and knowledge of the trust arrangement, its legal aspect and components and its legal effect was that of a layperson gathered from my interaction with my professional advisers and the trustees,” Tareen has pleaded in the review petition. In a landmark judgement announce in April this year, the apex court had ruled that a disqualification handed down under Article 62(1)(f) of the Constitution is for life.
However, Tareen has argued at the time that the SC’s ruling on lifetime disqualification is “not applicable” in his case.
“I always believed 62(1)(f) to be for life, but it is not applicable in my case,” Tareen had said on Twitter following the April verdict.
“Full money trail provided of tax paid income, property declared in assets of children and not mine on advice of tax consultant. This was the only issue. My review is still pending and IA justice will prevail.”
The court would also hear the review petition filed by Hanif Abbasi against the acquittal of PM Imran. Earlier, while disqualifying Tareen, the apex court had refused the disqualification of PTI Chairman Imran Khan. The chief justice, reading out the judgement in the packed courtroom, had said the court had 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 court’s detailed judgement had noted that the money trail provided by Imran Khan sufficiently covered the Bani Gala property’s purchase price, the funds provided by Jemima Goldsmith, Khan’s ex-wife, and the proceeds from the sale of Khan’s apartment in London.
The court held that the Bani Gala property was Khan’s property; he had bought the land for his family, but was gifted the property by his ex-wife, Jemima Khan, after their separation, the chief justice remarked while reading the judgement.
Published in Daily Times, September 25th 2018.
