SC directs Imran to submit London flat details on July 25

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court directed on Thursday Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to submit complete details of his London apartment at the next hearing. 

The PTI chief reportedly purchased the apartment from his cricket earnings and declared it as part of a government amnesty scheme in 2000.

The three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar was hearing the petition of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi, who has accused the PTI chief, and party leader Jahangir Tareen, of not declaring their assets and seeks to unseat them on alleged violations of the lncome Tax Ordinance 1979 and Peoples Act 1974.

Hearing the disqualification case against the PTI chief, the bench was informed by PTI counsel Naeem Bukhari that they have received half the record regarding the party’s international funding and will hopefully receive the second the half by tomorrow.

Bukhari said the case’s original counsel, Anwar Mansoor, can return to the country on July 27 after his heart surgery.

The court adjourned the hearing till July 25, directing the PTI counsel to furnish the financial record of Imran's apartment in London.

Offshore companies are usually used to hide assets and launder money, observed the court, stating further that it wants to establish if the property was purchased through laundered sums.

Addressing the media after the hearing, Abbasi criticised the constant excuse by PTI lawyers of not being present in the country. He claimed Imran has not furnished the money trail of his Bani Gala estate.

Speaking earlier, PTI Spokesman Fawad Chaudrry claimed “There is no chance of Imran’s disqualification in the case as we have submitted all the things demanded by the court”.

He said Akbar Babar’s documents were provided by the PML-N in the Supreme Court as well, adding that PML-N counsel Akram Sheikh has no clue about the case.

Babar, a PTI dissident, has petitioned the Election Commission of Pakistan claiming that there are gross irregularities in the party’s accounts and that it also receives ‘foreign funding’. That case is ongoing.