Daily Times

PTI chief Imran Khan’s legal troubles don’t seem to be ending just yet, as the authenticity of documents he has submitted in the Supreme Court remain under question.

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar has observed that documents submitted by the PTI chief in the money trail case carry inconsistencies and that the defence provided by MNA Jahangir Tareen is not satisfactory either.

Imran Khan has backtracked on his earlier position that approximately £99,000 pounds were spent on legal fees and associated costs. He had previously claimed that the amount was retained in the bank account of his offshore company Niazi Service Ltd — but part of it was transferred to him by the company. In the revised statement, Khan has stated that the position taken earlier about the remaining money retained by his offshore company in 2003 was based on incorrect advice and absence of records.

The backtracking is significant because it comes at a time when the money trail case is progressing towards its conclusion. His opponents have described the latest statement as yet another U-turn as he remains unsuccessful in proving a comprehensive money trail.

Meanwhile, Khan has kept his calm and seemed rather satisfied after submitting the documents in the Apex court. In his social media posts on the same day, he thanked his ex-wife Jemima Goldsmith for ‘record keeping’.

It is quite obvious that the revised document will not be sufficient and his legal team will have to produce more documents to enable Khan to get a clean chit from the SC.

The PTI chief’s disqualification seems unlikely as the objections raised by the bench are not of a very grave nature, compared to the ones that were raised in former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s case. Nonetheless, it will be important that the bench applies the same standards to the ongoing case as it did to the former PM’s in the interest of fairness and consistency.

Meanwhile, Imran Khan needs to come clean in the matter not just for legal reasons but also on ethical grounds since he has fashioned himself as a crusader against corruption and for justice. His failure to come clean will serve to weaken his political stance.  *

Published in Daily Times, October 19^th 2017.