The Supreme Court on Friday will announce its verdict on a
petition seeking the disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chief
Imran Khan and secretary-general Jahangir Tareen, DawnNews reported on Thursday evening.
The verdict, which had been reserved by the bench on November 14,
is expected to be read out at 2pm tomorrow afternoon by Chief Justice
Saqib Nisar. Justices Nisar, Faisal Arab and Umar Ata Bandial had
comprised the three-member bench which heard the case.
The
petitions filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Hanif Abbasi on
Nov 2 last year sought the two PTI leaders’ disqualification over
non-disclosure of assets and existence of their offshore companies, as
well as receiving foreign funds for their party.
Senior
counsel Naeem Bukhari, who represented Khan, had argued during the
proceedings that the case should not be treated on a par with the Panama
Papers case in which former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was
disqualified because, according to him, there was a world of difference
between the two.
In this case, he had said, no money was
sent out of the country, adding that it could be the case of a young man
who could not manage his accounts properly.
Bukhari had also argued that his client did not mention his Draycott flats of London
in his statement of assets and later benefited from the tax amnesty
scheme of 2000, asking if utilising the amnesty scheme be considered
dishonesty. But he admitted that the line between honesty and dishonesty
had to be drawn by the apex court.
During closing
arguments Bukhari had told the court that his client had submitted all
documents they could obtain before the court.
After the
court reserved its verdict in the case against Khan, the bench had
proceeded to question the lawyer representing Tareen regarding the
latter's properties in Britain.
Specifically, the bench
had inquired after Hyde House — a piece of property in London which
covers 12 acres of land — which Tareen claims to have bought for his
children through a trust.
The bench had subsequently
reserved its verdict on Tareen's disqualification after hearing
arguments on his line of defence from both sides.
However, before closing the proceedings, the chief justice had told all parties not to expect an early decision on the case.
