The Supreme Court on Thursday, while hearing a suo motu case on foreign properties owned by Pakistani nationals, sought a report on the inquiry against Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sister, Aleema Khan, by December 13 and issued contempt of court notices to chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and a representative of the income tax department.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar heard the suo motu case on foreign bank accounts and assets owned by Pakistani citizens.
During the last hearing, the court had directed FBR to look into 20 individuals who own properties in Dubai. As the hearing went under way today, the chief justice asked, “What is the update on the inquiry against those who own properties in Dubai? What is the report regarding the 20 individuals who were to be presented and FBR should inform us about its performance till now.”
Justice Nisar further questioned, “What inquiry has been conducted against Aleema Khan so far?” At this FBR operations member said, “We have asked the Lahore office to conduct an inquiry against her.”
Censuring the FBR chairman and the representative of the income tax department, the top judge remarked, “You people want to prolong the case. The court did not ask you to conduct an audit.”
“We asked FBR to conduct an inquiry here not in Lahore. We did not direct that the case be sent to filed officers and a committee should have conducted an inquiry on court orders,” Justice Nisar added.
The chief justice continued, “What kind of a public officer is FBR operation member? Why don’t we get an investigation conducted against him. Delay tactics are being used in the case. FBR has even placed Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) efforts in a cold storage.”
The bench then directed that a report on the investigation against Aleema Khan be presented by December 13. Further, the court issued contempt of court notices against chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and a representative of the income tax department and ordered them to submit a reply within three days.
