ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Wednesday observed that the disqualification cases against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and Secretary General Jahangir Tareen will be decided together, for being of similar nature.
PML-N leader Hanif Abbasi has sought disqualification of Imran Khan and Jahangir Tareen for non-disclosure of their assets, ownership of offshore companies and PTI being a foreign-aided party.
When the hearing commenced, the chief justice observed that the cases were being examined closely as well as in-depth and will be decide together, as similar questions were raised in both the cases.
The CJP said Tareen’s counsel, Sikandar Bashir Mohmand, was running here and there instead of answering the court questions. He said the arguments of Tareen’s counsel were revolving around the technical aspects of insider trading, instead of case merits.
Akram Sheikh, senior counsel for Hanif Abbasi, stated that Imran Khan was seeking ‘moon’ from the court through his new application in which he backtracked from his earlier contentions about the money trail of 0.1 million pounds. He said no such example has been seen in the past in which an earlier statement was changed.
In his arguments, Tareen’s counsel stated that the amendment brought in Section 15-A and B of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) through the finance bill was illegal and unconstitutional. He said the court, while exercising its powers under Article 184 (3) of the constitution, could set aside such an unconstitutional amendment.
He said the crime involving insider trading was related to the ‘intentions’. He said neither his client did the insider trading deliberately nor he was issued any notice by the SECP in this regard.
The chief justice then noted that if a person has the knowledge about the prices of stock market shares and he gets benefit of it, then it would not be a matter of ‘intention’.
Mohmand stated that his client was not denying that he knew about the share market. He said at that time his client had held an office in the company, which purchased the shares. “Tell us what was the worth of these shares,” the chief justice asked the counsel, adding that you were not replying to what was being asked.
Mohmand stated that like every citizen, his client also enjoyed protection under Article 4 of the constitution. He said at that time his client was member of the board of directors of the company, which is accused of insider trading.
To a court query that how much profit was earned from the shares purchased in the names of Allah Yar and Haji Khan, Tareen’s employees, and that who owned that amount, the counsel stated that the employees of Tareen had purchased the shares of Rs 41.9 million and sold them at Rs 112. 7 million, adding that it was correct that the amount for purchasing the shares was given to the employees by Jahangir Tareen.
He said the two sections of the SECP, under which the amount was taken back from his client, were violative of the constitution. He said his client could not be held accused under that law, which was itself unconstitutional. The court adjourned further hearing till today (Thursday).
Published in Daily Times, October 18th 2017.
