LAHORE: An accountability court on Saturday extended Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Aleem Khan’s judicial remand till April 30 in a case pertaining to his offshore companies and alleged possession of assets beyond his known sources of income.
Though he extended the remand, Accountability Court Judge Saeed Najmul Hassan, who presided over the hearing, did not seem keen to do so, pointing out that “no one should be kept in jail unnecessarily”.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had taken Khan into custody in Lahore. He faces multiple inquiries, including one involving offshore company Hexam Investment Overseas Ltd; one for owning assets beyond his known sources of income; and inquiries into his involvement in the Park View Housing Society, River Age Housing Society, and Multan Road.
NAB officials allege that Khan had misused his authority as general secretary of the Park View Housing Society and as a past member of the provincial assembly to acquire assets beyond his known sources of income.
NAB had in January 2018 sought the records and details of offshore companies reportedly established in tax havens abroad by Khan and PML-Q’s Chaudhry Moonis Elahi. A Mutual Legal Assistance report pertaining to Khan’s case was provided to NAB Lahore earlier in January this year, following which the PTI leader was summoned and later arrested.
According to NAB Lahore, Khan had started a real state business in which he invested tens of millions of rupees. He bought 900 kanals of land and a further 600 kanals of land through a company set up for this purpose, A&A Private Ltd.
However, according to the bureau, the PTI leader was unable to show the sources of income with which he purchased the land.
NAB further alleges that Khan had set up multiple offshore companies in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Britain in 2005 and 2006, using them to purchase assets that cannot be explained by his means.
Today, the NAB investigation officer told the court that a large part of the investigation against Khan was complete and that the final report would be presented in court, once the NAB chairman signs off on it.
In response to this, Khan’s lawyer said that at the time of obtaining the judicial remand, NAB had the same stance as it does today.
The judge extended Khan’s remand to April 30 and ordered NAB to present its final report on the matter in the next hearing of the case.
