Aleema told to pay Rs29.4m tax and fine

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sister Aleema Khanum to pay Rs29.4 million in taxes and ine in connection with an undeclared property in a Gulf country.

A three-judge bench, while hearing a case against 44 political exposed individual or their benamidars who possess properties in a Gulf country, remarked that failure on Aleema Khanum’s part to oblige to court orders will result in coniscation of her properties.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) told the court that a ine and tax worth Rs 29.4m has been placed on Aleema Khanum, who has been identiied as benamidar of a property.

Aleema Khanum, who was present in the court, said that she had bought the property abroad in 2008 against $370,000 and that she had sold it in 2017. She said that she had raised 50 per cent of the amount required by taking a loan.

According to Aleema Khanum’s written testimony submitted to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), she owned properties, which created through the earnings of businesses owned abroad.

“I sold my properties and the FBR was notiied about this development in advance,” she said.

The FIA submitted a summary regarding foreign properties in court. The total number of Pakistanis with properties abroad is now 2,154. Out of these, 1,208 people own properties in the Gulf country.

At least 21 Pakistanis that own these properties have been sent notices in accordance with the court’s orders, the summary said and at least Rs45m have been recovered from these people.

This case is the result of a list of politically exposed people which was submitted as part of an annexure to a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, Justice Faisal Arab and Justice Ijazul Ahsan.

Taking suo motu notice of the matter, the court had observed that it appeared the money siphoned off abroad without payment of taxes through illegal channels represented either ill-gotten gains 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,” it said.