Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Friday rejected a petition seeking the disqualification of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan as an MP for not declaring his assets, but disqualified his close aide Jahangir Tareen for life.
In a separate case, the apex court rejected an appeal by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the anti-corruption watchdog, to reopen a Rs 1.2-billion money laundering case against former premier Nawaz Sharif and members of his family.
An adverse ruling in both cases would have rendered Khan, head of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, and Punjab chief minister Shehbaz Sharif ineligible for next year’s general election. Shehbaz Sharif is set to be the PML-N’s prime ministerial candidate following the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif for dishonesty in July.
“The Bani Gala property is Imran Khan’s. He bought the land for his family,” Chief Justice Saqib Nisar said, referring to Khan’s sprawling house on the outskirts of Islamabad that had been at the centre of allegations against him.
Nisar said Khan was not liable to disclose the existence of Niazi Services Ltd, an offshore company, in his 2013 nomination papers as he wasn’t a shareholder. He said Khan had submitted all the information sought from him and only a small amount of the money trail sent by his ex-wife Jemima was unaccounted for.
The bench found Tareen dishonest under provisions of the Constitution and The Representation of the People Act, and said the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan should have taken action against him for insider trading.
