SC orders PM Khan’s sister to pay Rs29.4mn for undeclared assets abroad

Shown here is Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sister, Aleema Khanum. Khanum has been ordered by the Supreme Court to pay Rs29.4 million in taxes and fines after the Federal Board of Revenue named as an unnamed owner of a property in the UAE. (Photo courtesy: @Namaledu/Twitter)

• Revenue body identified Aleema Khanum as the owner of a property in the UAE
• Top court directs officials to submit a report of the case after a week

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Thursday ordered Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sister, Aleema Khanum to pay Rs29.4 million in taxes and fines after she was named as an owner of an undeclared property in the UAE. 
Following a report submitted by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), a three-judge bench, headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Saqib Nisar, added that Khanum’s failure to pay the requisite taxes and fines would result in the confiscation of her properties. 
Salman Akram Raja, Khanum’s counsel told the court that his client had acquired the properties in Dubai in 2008 and that the money to purchase the said properties was sent using legal banking channels. He added that details of the bank transactions and properties have been submitted to the court. 
Khanum, who was also present in the court at the time of the decision, said that she had bought the property worth $370,000 by paying 50 percent of the amount herself and the rest using a mortgage. 
According to a written testimony submitted to the Federal Investigation Agency, she said she acquired the properties through earnings from her businesses abroad. “I sold my properties and the FBR was notified about this development in advance,” she said in her written testimony. 
Earlier, taking suo motu notice of the matter, the apex court said that the money siphoned off abroad without payment of taxes, and through illegal channels, represented either illegally-acquired cash and assets or kickbacks from public contracts. 
“Such money creates gross disproportion, inequality, and disparity in society, which warps economic activity and growth, and constitutes plunder and theft of national wealth,” the court said, before directing the FBR to submit a report of the case after a week.