Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khanum to pay her liabilities in the foreign properties case within a week.

A three-member bench hearing the case, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, said if Aleema does not pay the due tax, her properties will be attached as part of the case file. The court said that she retains her right to appeal the decision, and ordered the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to submit a report in the case after a week.

During the hearing, the FBR informed the apex court that a fine and tax worth Rs 29.4 million has been placed on Aleema, who has been identified as benamidar of a property.

Khanum, who was present along with her counsel Salman Akram Raja, informed the court that she had bought the property in UAE in 2008 against $370,000 and that she had sold the said property in 2017. She told the court that she had raised 50 per cent of the amount required by taking a loan. Salman Akram Raja then said, “We have submitted details of bank transactions and accounts in the court.”

In an earlier hearing, an FBR official had informed the apex court that Aleema had not availed FBR’s amnesty scheme to declare her UAE property. “She had not declared her apartment and the FBR issued a notice on February 8, 2018, which she did not receive as she was abroad,” said the official.

During the hearing, the FIA submitted a summary regarding foreign properties in the court. According to the summary, 96 more Pakistanis have been identified for having properties abroad. The total number of Pakistanis with properties abroad now stands at 2,154. Out of these, 1,208 people own properties in the UAE. At least 21 Pakistanis who own these properties have been sent notices in accordance with the court’s orders, the summary said, adding that at least Rs 45 million have been recovered from them.

Published in Daily Times, December 14^th 2018.