Nawaz Sharif only paid Rs 51,318 income tax in 1990:Imran Khan

Lahore: Reacting to a statement by Mr. Nawaz Sharif that his family had paid Rs 92 crore as taxes in the year 1990, Chairman PTI said that this is a deliberate attempt at misleading the people. Talking to Shafqat Mahmood, Secretary Information PTI, from New York, where he is on a visit, Mr Khan said that as per FBR records the declared income of Mr. Nawaz Sharif for the year 1990-91 was only two lacs forty nine thousand five hundred and thirty seven (Rs 249,537). On this income he paid Rs fifty one thousand three hundred and eighteen (51,318) as income tax. Mr. Shahbaz Sharif in the same year 1990-91 said Imran Khan had an income of Rs 271,638 on which he paid Rs 53,482 as income tax. Thus, both brothers in total paid Rs One lac four thousand and eight rupees as income tax in the year they took money from Younas Habib. Where has the figure of ninety two crores that Nawaz Sharif family have supposed to paid as tax come from, asked Imran Khan?

There are two notable features of the misleading statement by Nawaz Sharif, according to Chairman PTI. First he is mixing together Sales Tax, Central excise duty or other corporate taxes that companies pay. They are not paid by individuals but by corporations. There is no way of verifying whether Sharif family companies paid this amount of corporate tax or not. What is equally mystifying said Imran Khan is that if indeed the Sharif companies had paid Rs 92 crores as corporate taxes, why are the incomes of Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif so meagre. They have both declared approximately Rs five lacs as their combined income for the financial year 1990-91. If their family owned companies were paying such heavy amounts in corporate taxes, where has the income gone?

Chairman PTI Imran Khan said that after flip-flopping on the issue of investigation by FIA with Ch Nisar criticising the Supreme Court, Mr. Sharif is now ready for investigation by it. This is a good development but it is important that FIA’s terms of reference be wide enough to allow a thorough probe into irregularities in the Mehrangate Scandal. While Nawaz Sharif is calling Younas Habib a criminal, was it not the first Sharif government that gave him a licence to launch Mehran Bank, asked Mr. Khan? It also needs be investigated that did Mehran Bank soon after its inception give Rs 20 crore to the house of Sharif that is still unpaid? The collusion between the Sharif’s and Younas Habib should be an important part of the investigation by FIA, according to Imran Khan.

The real facts of this entire scandal must come out in the open or there is serious danger of history repeating itself said Imran Khan. All those involved in giving or receiving money must be punished and an example made for the future generations.