SC Adjourns Jehangir Tareen's Disqualification Case Till Wednesday

SC adjourns Jehangir Tareen's disqualification case till Wednesday

The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned hearing of a case regarding offshore companies of PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) General Secretary Jehangir Tareen till Wednesday

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 07th Nov, 2017 ) :The Supreme Court on Tuesday adjourned hearing of a case regarding offshore companies of PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) General Secretary Jehangir Tareen till Wednesday.

A three-member SC bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar and comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Faisal Arab heard the case filed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hanif Abbasi seeking the disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and the party's secretary general Jahangir Tareen over non-disclosure of assets, existence of offshore companies as well as the PTI being a foreign-aided party.

During the course of proceedings, Advocate Azid Nafees counsel for petitioner Hanif Abbasi argued that Jahangir Tareen should be disqualified as he had engaged in insider trading and acquired income through such activity.

This is enough to declare Tareen dishonest, he added. Advocate Nafees argued that the PTI leader had violated sections 15A (prohibition of insider trading) and 15B (inside information) of the Securities and Exchange Ordinance, 1969.

Upon this the chief justice asked does the violation of the law amount to dishonesty and can the violation of every law be grounds for disqualification? Advocate Nafees said that Jahangir Tareen was the director of a company when he violated the laws.

The chief justice asked how can the violation of every law be fitted into the definition of dishonesty? He further asked that after all these years, should the court disqualify someone for violating the laws regarding business dealings? "We accept that laws were violated, that mistakes were made but where did dishonesty come from? he added.

Advocate Nafees said that Jahangir Tareen had used his unlawful earning to pay off a penalty to the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan on January 12, 2008. On this Justice Umar Ata Bandial asked the counsel has fraud or a crime of any sort been committed? The lawyer replied that insider trading was a crime according to the law.

He said that the PTI leader had also provided incorrect information in his nomination papers in 2013. "For that, he can be disqualified under Article 62, he can be disqualified for life," the lawyer said.

Justice Umar Ata Bandial observed that insider trading does not have to be declared in the election nomination papers. Abbasi's counsel argued that the disqualification has to be undertaken on the matter of dishonesty and not over submission of nomination papers.

He alleged that Jahangir Tareen acquired illegal money. The chief justice questioned the counsel whether every illegal act makes someone dishonest. He remarked that these are new arguments for which Tareen's counsel Sikandar Bashir Mohmand's opinion will be sought.

Meanwhile, hearing arguments of Akram Sheikh in Imran Khan disqulification case , the chief justice remarked that judges are also working under the ambit of the law. He remarked that election tribunals are the appropriate forum for resolving issues with someone's election.

During the hearing, the court also debated the grounds for disqualification of lawmakers while deliberating what constitutes as dishonesty as the counsel representing PML-N leader maintained that PTI leader Jahangir Tareen had acquired illegal income through insider trading.