IHC suspends arrest warrants issued against Imran Khan in ECP contempt case [Update Post #5]

[UN talkz]

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued bailable arrest warrants for Imran Khan following his failure to show up for the contempt of court proceeding on Thursday. The election body also ordered the PTI chief to submit surety bonds worth Rs0.1 million.

The commission, while hearing the contempt of court case against Imran Khan filed by PTI dissident and one of the founding members Akbar S. Babar, also ordered the party chief to appear before the court on September 25.

The counsel for Imran Khan, Babar Awan, argued that the PTI chief was abroad and had returned to the country just an hour ago.

“Imran Khan respects the election commission and will appear before the ECP whenever it orders,” Awan maintained.

On this, the counsel for the petitioner argued that the ECP’s orders have been violated. “Had he [Imran Khan] respected the institutions, he would have been present here,” said the counsel, asking the commission to continue with the regular proceeding.

Following this, the ECP reserved its judgement in the contempt case and issued bailable arrest warrants against the PTI chief, and ordered him to appear before the court on September 25.

Last month, ECP had issued a second show-cause notice to Imran Khan after he failed to reply to the
earlier notice regarding the contempt of court proceedings against him.

Imran Khan had initially challenged maintainability of the contempt petition and raised objections over ECP’s jurisdiction to initiate contempt proceedings against him; the commission, however, declared on August 10 that it had the legal right to hear the contempt case.

It had then issued a formal show-cause notice to the PTI chairman, asking him to submit a reply by Aug 23.

PTI chief's counsel Babar Awan had then appeared before the five-member ECP bench — headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) retired Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza — and pleaded that they wanted to challenge the ECP’s judgement regarding the maintainability of the contempt petition and hence, should be granted some time to do so
.
Imran Khan had accused the ECP of being biased in the foreign funding case following which his counsel had tendered an apology with the commission.

However, the PTI chairman in a TV interview later said that his counsel had tendered an apology in his personal capacity and that he had not apologised.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1357629/e...rest-warrants-for-imran-khan-in-contempt-case

 

[Black Zero]

Why ECP want IK to be present?

Babar Awan is there to represent IK/PTI, ECP should be able to proceed...
Case is stuck for years now...

 

[hadi123]

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said on Sunday if the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has given directions for the arrest of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Pakistan (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan then their order should be implemented.

The premier gave the statement during an interview to a private news channel. The host had asked him a question pertaining to the ECP directing police to arrest the PTI chief in the contempt of court case, after Imran’s persistent failure to appear before the institution.

“Would the directions be acted upon?” the host asked to which Abbasi said if there exists such an order then it would be carried out.

Then the host asked what if the Accountability Court orders the same in the corruption references against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

The premier responded that if the accountability court gave such a verdict then it too would be implemented as there was no choice.

Abbasi and members of his cabinet will meet Nawaz in London today to discuss various critical issues.

The ECP had ordered the Islamabad Police on Friday to arrest Imran Khan and produce the PTI chief before it on September 25.

The warrant is bailable and mentions that Imran may be let go by the police if and when he submits bail of Rs100,000 along with two sureties and vows to continue attending the ECP hearings unless otherwise stated.

Meanwhile, Islamabad Accountability Court has summoned former prime minister Sharif and his sons Hussain and Hasan on September 19. The summons has been issued on the basis of the reference against Nawaz Sharif and his family regarding ownership of offshore companies that was filed by the NAB.

NAB had filed on September 8 three references against the Sharif family and one against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in the court in light of the Supreme Court's directives in the Panama Papers verdict of July 28.

https://www.geo.tv/latest/158474-imran-will-be-arrested-as-ecp-has-ordered-it-pm

 

[hadi123]

After months of foot-dragging over the issue, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Monday finally submitted details of party accounts and foreign funding received in the last seven years to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

Unhappy with the constant defiance of its orders, the ECP had last week given PTI yet another final opportunity to submit financial documents and details of funds received from abroad, as well as the party’s accounts, by September 18 [today].

On Monday, the party submitted financial documents and details of funds received from abroad, as well as the party’s accounts of past seven years in five sealed volumes.

The PTI counsel once again urged the five-member ECP bench, headed by Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza, not to give details of party accounts to the petitioner, Akbar S. Babar — a former PTI member.

Hearing this, the chief commissioner remarked that according to a Lahore High Court ruling, the details of assets should be published online. He directed the PTI counsel to get the financial documents verified through concerned officials.

When the bench asked the counsel whether the financial records were the same as what the party had submitted in the Supreme Court, counsel Faisal Chauhdry said that there were additional documents as well.

Meanwhile, PTI counsel Saqlain Haider earned ire of the election commissioner when he requested a receipt for the party's submission of funding details.

"Was the responsibility to submit this record ours or yours?" he asked the counsel, saying that the bench members were not "middlemen".

"No receipt will be issued," CEC Raza said, prompting the other PTI counsel, Faisal Chaudhry, to apologise to the bench.

The bench subsequently adjourned the hearing till October 16.

The ECP bench had made it clear during last week's hearing of the PTI foreign funding case that this was the last and final chance for the party to submit the details, failing which the commission would go ahead with ex-parte proceedings.

Prior to last week, the ECP had given numerous chances to PTI to submit financial details over the course of the hearings. On December 1 last year, the ECP had ordered the PTI to submit its accounts or face ‘legal consequences’. Instead of complying with the orders, the party had accused the ECP of ‘political bias’ which led to a contempt application against Imran Khan filed by petitioner Akbar S. Babar.

Long-drawn case
The case was filed on Nov 14, 2014 by Babar, after he developed differences with the PTI chief over internal corruption and abuse of laws governing political funding.

The petitioner had alleged that nearly $3 million in illegal foreign funds were collected through two offshore companies, registered under Imran Khan’s signature, and that money was sent through illegal ‘hundi’ channels from the Middle East to accounts of PTI employees. He also alleged that the foreign accounts used to collect funds were concealed from the annual audit reports submitted to the ECP.

In April 2015, after scrutinising PTI’s annual audit reports, the ECP had ordered that the party had failed to disclose the sources and details of foreign funds received.

But instead of submitting the accounts, the PTI had challenged the ECP’s jurisdiction to scrutinise its accounts.

In July, the Islamabad High Court rejected PTI's plea to prevent the ECP from hearing Babar's petition, saying that the case has been going on since 2014 and has already once been referred back to the ECP.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1358472/p...pti-submits-financial-records-of-past-7-years

 

[Abdullah719]

IHC suspends arrest warrants issued against Imran Khan in ECP contempt case

The Islamabad High Court on Wednesday suspended the bailable arrest warrants issued against Imran Khan following his failure to show up for the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) contempt of court proceedings against him.

The order to suspend the ECP's decision to issue the warrants was handed down by a larger bench of the IHC following a plea submitted by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

While setting aside the order, however, the IHC directed the PTI chairman to answer the show-cause notice issued to him by the ECP on August 24.

Last month, ECP had issued a second show-cause notice to Imran Khan after he failed to reply to an earlier notice regarding the contempt of court proceedings against him.

More recently, the ECP had ordered Islamabad Capital Police to arrest PTI chairman Imran Khan and present him before the commission for a hearing on September 25. The warrant was bailable against surety bonds worth Rs0.1 million.

The commission has been hearing a contempt of court case against Imran Khan filed by PTI dissident Akbar S. Babar.

Imran Khan had initially challenged the maintainability of the contempt petition and raised objections over ECP’s jurisdiction to initiate contempt proceedings against him; the commission, however, declared on August 10 that it had the legal right to hear the case.

It had then issued a formal show-cause notice to the PTI chairman, asking him to submit a reply by Aug 23.

PTI chief's counsel Babar Awan had then appeared before the five-member ECP bench — headed by Chief Election Commissio*ner (CEC) retired Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza — and pleaded that they wanted to challenge the ECP’s judgement regarding the maintainability of the contempt petition and hence should be granted some time to do so.

Imran Khan had accused the ECP of being biased in the foreign funding case following which his counsel had tendered an apology with the commission. However, the PTI chairman in a TV interview later said that his counsel had tendered an apology in his personal capacity and that he himself had not apologised.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1358909/i...ssued-against-imran-khan-in-ecp-contempt-case

 

[UN talkz]

Imran Khan submits reply to ECP in contempt of court case

Imran Khan's lawyer Babar Awan submitted the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) supremo's reply to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the contempt of court case on Monday. The election body, in its short order, said that it would review the reply on September 27 and then give its judgement.

The ECP was hearing a contempt of court petition against Imran Khan filed by party dissident and one of PTI's founding members, Akbar S. Babar. The petition had argued that the PTI chief, in a reply to the commission in another case regarding party funding, used derogatory language which was tantamount to the contempt of court. Subsequently, Khan's lawyer Saqlain Haider had submitted an unconditional apology.

However, the PTI chairman in a TV interview had reportedly said that his counsel tendered an apology in his personal capacity and that Khan himself had not apologised. On the basis of the interview, the ECP was once again moved to proceed against Khan.

In his written reply on Monday, Imran Khan said that his lawyer Saqlain Haider had submitted the apology on his behalf and that the PTI chief had not objected or opposed the apology. He argued that after the submission of the apology, the matter should have been settled.

"My counsel appeared as pleader/advocate with full authority to act on my behalf to set at rest the liss/contempt proceeding," reads Khan's written reply.

Awan also submitted the order of Islamabad High Court (IHC), suspending the arrest warrants for Khan issued by the ECP. He further argued that the IHC is going to hear a petition on the ECP's powers in connection with contempt of court hearings.

Earlier in the day, the petitioner filed another application against Khan, arguing that the PTI chief recently once again criticised the ECP so another contempt of court proceedings should be launched against him. ECP directed Imran Khan to submit a reply to the application on September 27.

'Will oppose Election Bill 2017 even if disqualified'

PTI chief Imran Khan has recently asserted said that he would not support the Election Bill 2017 or any such legislation even if he was disqualified under Article 62 and 63 of the Constitution.

The bill gives complete administrative and financial powers to ECP, increases the election expenses limits for both National Assembly and provincial assemblies’ seats by 150 per cent and makes it mandatory for registration of any political party to have at least 1,000 members.

During an interview to Dunya News Saturday night, the PTI chief said that the bill was damaging morality and ethics in the country and legitimating thieves.

He, however, made it clear that he had not committed any wrongdoing or financial crime. Elaborating his viewpoint, he said that he has been accused of bringing funds to Pakistan , not of being involved in money laundering or tax evasion.

https://www.dawn.com/news/1359926/imran-khan-submits-reply-to-ecp-in-contempt-of-court-case

 

[Bewal Express]

Not great by IK, he should never apologize to this corrupt institution. He has nothing to apologise and he should let them do their worst, what can they do?