Imran’s PTI is hit with double whammy
Shehbaz serves Rs10b defamation notice on Imran; ECP rejects PTI’s plea on jurisdiction
PTI Chairman Imran Khan. PHOTO: REUTERS
LAHORE/ISLAMABAD:
Monday brought a sort of double whammy for Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party as it suffered a setback in a foreign funding case being heard by Election Commission of Pakistan and a legal challenge mounted by Punjab chief minister.
The prime minister’s younger brother Shehbaz Sharif served a defamation notice on Imran, while the top election body rejected the party’s plea in the foreign funding case.
Shehbaz served the defamation notice on the PTI chairman for claiming that the ruling party had offered him Rs10 billion to stay mum on the Panamagate case.
Govt offered me Rs10b to stay mum on Panama case, claims Imran
In another case, the ECP full bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Raza Mohammad Khan passed a short order, rejecting the PTI’s plea of questioning the body’s jurisdiction to probe such matters.
Under Section 8 of the Defamation Ordinance, 2002, Shehbaz served the notice through advocate Khwaja Haris Ahmed.
“Since the last week of April 2017, you [Imran] have been uttering/spreading and resorting to the publication and circulation, directly and/or by way of innuendos, maliciously false, baseless and unfounded statements and representations against my client to the effect that he had offered you a sum of Rs10 billion in lieu of your withdrawing/backing off from the Panamagate case,” the notice read.
The notice added that “apart from causing irreparable damage to Shehbaz’s reputation, this [defamation by Imran] has caused him severe mental agony, pain and torture.”
Imran challenges PM to ‘open debate’ on Panamagate
Further, if within 14 days of the receipt of the legal notice, Imran doesn’t tender a proper apology to Shehbaz “and get the same published through print and electronic media in the same manner and with the same prominence as the publication of the defamatory statement and representation,” legal action will be taken against him for recovery of a sum of Rs10 billion as damages under the Ordinance on account of “defamation committed by the PTI chief”.
Late last month, Imran claimed that the PML-N government had offered him Rs10 billion to back down from the Panamagate case.
While addressing participants at the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) in Peshawar, Imran said when the PML-N government could offer him such a huge amount, one could only imagine what they would offer investigation organisations probing the Panamagate case.
“We will not leave pursuing the PML-N government until the prime minister resigns,” he said.
Foreign funding case
A long-pending case of foreign funds collected by Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) also took a new turn on Monday when a full bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) passed a short order, rejecting the PTI’s plea of questioning the body’s jurisdiction to probe such matters.
Headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Raza Mohammad Khan, the commission announced its verdict on the maintainability of the petition after hearing arguments of PTI’s counsel Anwar Mansur Khan and Syed Ahmed Hasan, counsel for the petitioner, afresh.
Shehbaz Sharif says will quit politics if Imran’s bribe claim proven true
In the short order, the chief election commissioner also ordered the PTI to produce all financial records sought by the petitioner as per its earlier order of April 1, 2015, December 1, 2016 and on May 17, 2017 -- the next date of hearing.
The case was first filed in November 2014 by one of the founding members of the PTI, Akbar S Babar, who later parted ways after developing differences with PTI chief Imran Khan.
The petitioner alleges internal party corruption and violation of laws in managing donations and funds to the PTI.
The petitioner accused that almost $3 million of illegal foreign funds were collected through two offshore companies registered under Imran Khan’s signatures and that the money was received through ‘hundi’ from the Middle East in front accounts of PTI employees as well as foreign accounts used to collect funds were concealed from the annual audit reports submitted before the ECP by the PTI.
ECP to announce PTI foreign funding case verdict on May 8
In a related development, the PTI once again did not submit Imran Khan’s response to the contempt petition filed by Akbar S Babar on the PTI’s review application filed on January 8, 2017, when the ECP ordered it to produce financial documents.
The PTI’s lawyer sought more time to submit Imran Khan’s response to the application filed by Akbar S Babar, accusing him of contempt of the ECP for accusing it of political bias in hearing the foreign funding case. The ECP granted time till May 17.
Talking to the media outside the ECP, Babar, who leads a PTI faction called the PTI Founders Group, welcomed the ECP verdict of exercising its jurisdiction over the case.
He said: “It is a landmark decision in which the ECP has decided to exercise its constitutional mandate in accordance with law and scrutinise the PTI accounts.”
According to him, the verdict would go a long way in regulating political parties under the law and help in transforming them from personal fiefdoms to political institutions that can regularly offer fresh and credible leadership to people.
Monday brought a sort of double whammy for Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party as it suffered a setback in a foreign funding case being heard by Election Commission of Pakistan and a legal challenge mounted by Punjab chief minister.
The prime minister’s younger brother Shehbaz Sharif served a defamation notice on Imran, while the top election body rejected the party’s plea in the foreign funding case.
Shehbaz served the defamation notice on the PTI chairman for claiming that the ruling party had offered him Rs10 billion to stay mum on the Panamagate case.
Govt offered me Rs10b to stay mum on Panama case, claims Imran
In another case, the ECP full bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Raza Mohammad Khan passed a short order, rejecting the PTI’s plea of questioning the body’s jurisdiction to probe such matters.
Under Section 8 of the Defamation Ordinance, 2002, Shehbaz served the notice through advocate Khwaja Haris Ahmed.
“Since the last week of April 2017, you [Imran] have been uttering/spreading and resorting to the publication and circulation, directly and/or by way of innuendos, maliciously false, baseless and unfounded statements and representations against my client to the effect that he had offered you a sum of Rs10 billion in lieu of your withdrawing/backing off from the Panamagate case,” the notice read.
The notice added that “apart from causing irreparable damage to Shehbaz’s reputation, this [defamation by Imran] has caused him severe mental agony, pain and torture.”
Imran challenges PM to ‘open debate’ on Panamagate
Further, if within 14 days of the receipt of the legal notice, Imran doesn’t tender a proper apology to Shehbaz “and get the same published through print and electronic media in the same manner and with the same prominence as the publication of the defamatory statement and representation,” legal action will be taken against him for recovery of a sum of Rs10 billion as damages under the Ordinance on account of “defamation committed by the PTI chief”.
Late last month, Imran claimed that the PML-N government had offered him Rs10 billion to back down from the Panamagate case.
While addressing participants at the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre (SKMCH&RC) in Peshawar, Imran said when the PML-N government could offer him such a huge amount, one could only imagine what they would offer investigation organisations probing the Panamagate case.
“We will not leave pursuing the PML-N government until the prime minister resigns,” he said.
Foreign funding case
A long-pending case of foreign funds collected by Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) also took a new turn on Monday when a full bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) passed a short order, rejecting the PTI’s plea of questioning the body’s jurisdiction to probe such matters.
Headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Raza Mohammad Khan, the commission announced its verdict on the maintainability of the petition after hearing arguments of PTI’s counsel Anwar Mansur Khan and Syed Ahmed Hasan, counsel for the petitioner, afresh.
Shehbaz Sharif says will quit politics if Imran’s bribe claim proven true
In the short order, the chief election commissioner also ordered the PTI to produce all financial records sought by the petitioner as per its earlier order of April 1, 2015, December 1, 2016 and on May 17, 2017 -- the next date of hearing.
The case was first filed in November 2014 by one of the founding members of the PTI, Akbar S Babar, who later parted ways after developing differences with PTI chief Imran Khan.
The petitioner alleges internal party corruption and violation of laws in managing donations and funds to the PTI.
The petitioner accused that almost $3 million of illegal foreign funds were collected through two offshore companies registered under Imran Khan’s signatures and that the money was received through ‘hundi’ from the Middle East in front accounts of PTI employees as well as foreign accounts used to collect funds were concealed from the annual audit reports submitted before the ECP by the PTI.
ECP to announce PTI foreign funding case verdict on May 8
In a related development, the PTI once again did not submit Imran Khan’s response to the contempt petition filed by Akbar S Babar on the PTI’s review application filed on January 8, 2017, when the ECP ordered it to produce financial documents.
The PTI’s lawyer sought more time to submit Imran Khan’s response to the application filed by Akbar S Babar, accusing him of contempt of the ECP for accusing it of political bias in hearing the foreign funding case. The ECP granted time till May 17.
Talking to the media outside the ECP, Babar, who leads a PTI faction called the PTI Founders Group, welcomed the ECP verdict of exercising its jurisdiction over the case.
He said: “It is a landmark decision in which the ECP has decided to exercise its constitutional mandate in accordance with law and scrutinise the PTI accounts.”
According to him, the verdict would go a long way in regulating political parties under the law and help in transforming them from personal fiefdoms to political institutions that can regularly offer fresh and credible leadership to people.