ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday questioned the authenticity of 178 lease agreements made by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Jahangir Tareen for acquiring 18,566 acres of land on lease from some 160 lessors. A three-member Supreme Court bench, comprising Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Faisal Arab, was hearing a petition filed by PML-N leader Hanif Abbassi, seeking disqualification of PTI Chairman Imran Khan and Secretary General Jahangir Tareen for non-disclosure of their assets, ownership of offshore companies, and PTI being a foreign-funded party. The court directed the Punjab Land Revenue Department to produce the record of 18,566 acres of land acquired by Jahangir Tareen on lease in Rahim Yar Khan, Sadiqabad and Rajanpur districts. In compliance with the court’s earlier orders, Sikandar Bashir Mohmand, counsel for Jahangir Tareen, produced before the court documents pertaining to 18,566 acres of land acquired by his client on lease. He stated that his client acquired this land for cultivation purpose and made about 178 agreements with some 160 lessors. He contended that his client had made payments of Rs 210 million to the 160 lessors through cross cheques. He stated that his client has established 86 farms on the 18,500 acres of land within a radius of 150 kilometers in the districts of Rahim Yar Khan, Sadiqabad and Rajanpur. The chief justice expressed dissatisfaction over the mode of details given by the counsel pertaining to the lease agreements. He pointed out that the lease agreements were not duly registered, besides these agreements did not mention that at what place, from whom and how much land was acquired. He said as to how it could be assumed that the lessors who leased out the land were the actual owners of that land. The counsel however repeatedly focused on the payments made to the lessors through cross cheques, saying that the details pertaining to every single penny given to the lessors were mentioned in the paper book placed before the court. “We are only concerned about the authenticity of the lease agreements,” the chief justice said, and asked the counsel that he would have to prove that the lessors who gave 18,566 acres of land to Tareen were the actual owners of that land. The counsel submitted that he would provide proofs of the lease agreements. The court noted that the revenue department is the major source where record of lands is maintained along with khasra numbers and mozaas. When the counsel stated that the affidavits of the lessors were present on the record of the land, the chief justice said the court would examine the revenue record instead of affidavits. “It would possibly be the lease agreements, but you have to provide authentic proofs in this regard,” the chief justice told the counsel. He observed that the court may take the opinion of some representative of the revenue department. The counsel then stated that Tareen had made huge payments of Rs 1.9 billion and he will establish the genuineness of this business as well. Referring to a lessor, the chief justice questioned whether Fauzia Leghari, who had leased out 149 acres of land to Tareen, was the real owner of the said land and if she was, she must have some legal ownership. Mohmand apprised the court that Tareen has been in agriculture since 1978, adding that he had acquired 18,566 acres of land in 2010 on lease. He said his client grows sugar, mangos and cotton on his farms and also set up a sugar mill in 2002. During the hearing, Naeem Bukhari, counsel for Imran Khan, apprised the court that he had submitted all the remaining details pertaining to the money trail of Imran Khan in compliance with the court’s earlier orders. He, however, stated that the record pertaining to utilisation of 0.1 million pounds lying in the account of Niazi Services Limited (NSL) could not be found yet. The chief justice observed, “The record which goes in your favour is present, however the record which is sought by the court is still missing.” Published in Daily Times, October 11th 2017.