Tax evasion: Verdict issued on MNA’s disqualification

MULTAN:

An election tribunal in Multan issued on Saturday the detailed judgment disqualifying Rai Hassan Nawaz elected from NA-162, Sahiwal-III constituency.

The judgement said Nawaz had been disqualified over concealing assets and tax evasion.

Presiding Officer Justice (r) Rana Zahid Mehmood issued the 30-page judgment on a petition filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Sahilwal vice president Haji Muhammad Ayub.

Ayub had said in his petition that the PTI nominee had listed Rai Cotton Factory among his assets but the factory did not exist.

He said Nawaz had built 22 shops on the land and rented them out. He said seven banks and several petrol pumps had also opened on the land.

In the verdict, the judge said there was overwhelming evidence that the cotton factory did not exist,The judge noted that had Nawaz received Rs37.7 million in rent. “It can be said with certainty that the respondent wants to accumulate wealth as much as he can and has no scruples,” he wrote.  He noticed that the respondent, in order to avoid payment of income tax, had been filing income tax returns under the non-existent cotton factory. The judge wrote, “The concealment of Rai Iqbal Town housing scheme was also meant to conceal income tax evasion.” The judge wrote that Nawaz had evaded at least Rs5 million in taxes. The petitioner had alleged that the respondent had gotten a loan from Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan (IDBP) in 1992 for Murtaza Haseeb Textile Mills as its chief executive.

He said that later, he had resigned from the post and his name had been removed from the defendants’ list following a petition moved by the IDBP’s counsel over failure to repay the loan.  The judge wrote, “One fails to understand how and why at this crucial stage bank authorities were so lenient and friendly with the respondent to allow his resignation...defaults had entered into a very critical stage.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2015.