Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. PHOTO: REUTERS
Ali Mustafa Dar has also demanded Rs5 billion in damages from Khan as well as a public apology.
On Friday Islamabad additional district and sessions judge Raja Khurram Ali Khan issued a notice to the PTI chief seeking his response by June 9.
In the petition, Ali Dar has maintained that the PTI chief “made false and libellous statements against the plaintiff, his brother [Mujtaba Hasnain Dar] and his family” during a press conference on April 10.
Khan alleged in the press conference that the two brothers owned two towers in the UAE which were acquired through illegal means, the petition said, and added that these statements are “utterly false and fabricated and present a distorted and fictitious account of the facts”.
Ali Dar denied Imran Khan’s claims as being false and part of a malicious campaign of vilification against himself and his father. “The plaintiff is engaged in a lawful business in the UAE and Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar has no shares or ownership in the HDS Group [Ali Dar’s real estate development firm in the UAE],” read the petition.
The petitioner maintained that in 2003, his father gifted and loaned certain amount from his declared earnings to his sons as seed money and working capital for the two brothers to start their business. All these amounts have also been disclosed in Ishaq Dar’s annual tax returns and ECP returns, the petition said.
The petitioner maintained that his group and partners built two multi-storey towers in Dubai (HDS Tower and HDS Business Centre) and both have almost sold out. He said around 550 buyers own of space in the two towers.
About Khan’s reference to a house owned by Senator Dar in Emirates Hills, Dubai, the petitioner said the Senator did purchase the said house in 2005 with a down payment of UAE DH900,300 (around Rs25 million) but he gifted the house to his sons in May 2011 with the condition that they would also pay the remaining 22 instalments of a loan Dar had taken to purchase the house. “Therefore, Senator Ishaq Dar does not own the aforesaid property in the UAE,” it said.
“Despite the fact that all this information is available on record, the defendant wrongly and illegally referred to it for ulterior purposes and political victimisation of the plaintiff and his father,” reads the petition.
He said Imran Khan’s statements had damaged his reputation and also caused him severe mental anguish.
The plaintiff said that he also served a defamation notice to Khan on April 15, but received no reply from him.
The court will take up the case on June 9.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2016.
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