ZULFIQAR AHMAD

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan on Sunday said that his case must not be compared with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s offshore assets issue, as he had submitted all the record of his money trail for the purchase of his Bani Gala residence.

Speaking at a press conference here, not only did he reject reports of failing to submit the salary record of his county cricket career, he also strongly refuted the allegations of money laundering and tax evasion.

He added: “It’s quite rubbish to equate me with Nawaz Sharif…everybody knows that I earned money abroad and brought it to Pakistan and purchased Bani Gala from that money. How does that equate to money laundering?”

He maintained that he used to pay taxes when he was in England, adding if anyone should be worried, it should be the British government. “As far as declaration of assets is concerned, everyone knows that I had an apartment in London which I sold out and then purchased Bani Gala land,” he added.

“The first case filed against me by PML-N questioned how the money from my London flat’s sale came to Pakistan. It came through Jemima; she sent all the details of her bank accounts, which have been submitted to the Supreme Court,” he explained.

“The money from the flat’s sale was given to Jemima who then sent it to Pakistan – those transactions are in the statements that have been presented in the SC,” he added.

To a question, he said that people all over the world donate money to his charities because they trust him, adding they give donations because they are sure that “Imran will not take advantage of their donations”.

“People give me donations for Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital (SKMCH); two of which have been built in Lahore and Peshawar, while a third is being built in Karachi, and everybody knows that where these donation money is spent,” he added.

He strongly criticised PML-N leader Khawaja Asif, who had accused him of investing charity money in France and Oman, and said that if the minister had any proof of discrepancies in SKMCH’s accounts, he is free to approach the court against him.

“SKMCH is run on donations, but these courtiers had no shame or else they would not have targeted a charity-run hospital, where thousands of poor people are getting free medical treatment,” he lamented.

Showing another document at the press conference, Imran said that he played for Sussex for 11 years, adding the Sussex County Cricket Club gave him a certificate and this is the club’s official letter, stating that “I played for them from 1977-1988 – it also says that a 33 percent at-source tax was deducted”.

“Since the club does not have the record of the money paid to me, I submitted Mushtaq Ahmed’s contract who played for Sussex 18 years after me,” stated Khan.

“He {Mushtaq Ahmed} is also a Pakistani cricketer and his contract says that he earned 70,000 pounds per year. The reason I presented Ahmed’s contract was to give the court an idea of how much I would have earned as a [renowned] all-rounder of my time if he earned 70,000 pounds a year.”

The PTI chief said, “The News wrote that Austin Robert’s letter [submitted by Khan’s lawyer in court] is equivalent to the ‘Qatari’ letter produced by the Sharif family.”

“Robert wrote in his letter that he signed me in 1977. He didn’t only sign me; Zaheer Abbas, Asif Iqbal, Majid Khan, Javed Miandad, and 50 other cricketers from all over the world were also signed. It was a standard annual contract of $25,000,” he added.

“If you believe you are an investigative journalist, call Austin Robert, check his background, and you will realise that his letter is not [like the] Qatari letter. He will have all the documents in his archives — not just mine’s, but of 50 other cricketers — proving that we had a standard contract,” he added.