Nawaz Sharif should not be allowed to contest elections:PTI

Lahore: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Saturday questioned the acceptance of the nomination papers of PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and said that despite the fact that quite strong evidence was availanble against Sharif, the election commission of Pakistan (ECP) had accepted his papers.

“The fact is that during this period when he was in exile in Saudi Arabia, Nawaz Sharif paid zero tax. Apart from evidence available with the Federal Board of Revenue, this is borne out by Sharif himself through his nomination papers filed in May 2008 for NA-123 Lahore VI,” said PTI Secretary-Information Shafqat Mahmood in a statement.

The PTI spokesman said that the PML-N leadership had made another effort to conceal facts and also misstated to the government and the people of Pakistan regarding the taxes paid by Mr. Nawaz Sharif during the period 2005 to 2007.

“Answering question no 10 relating to the taxes paid by the applicant, Nawaz Sharif, during years 2005 to 2008, the answers given by Mr. Nawaz Sharif was ‘NIL’. This was the period when Mr. Sharif had assets in Pakistan that were not shut down but Sharif was reciving income,” he said.

“According to the laws of Pakistan every citizen who has local income, irrespective where he or she resides, is required to file an income tax return and pay taxes. The fact is that Mr. Sharif was in exile, not his assets. Therefore, he had to file a return and pay his share of income tax. Also what Business Mian Sahib started all of a sudden that he started paying taxes in the same year of his arrival to Pakistan,” argueed Mahmood.

“The documents signed by Nawaz Sharif in 2008 indicating that he never paid any taxes in 2005/6/7 are available with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. It is instructive that as soon as Mr. Sharif returned, he paid Rs 2 million as tax in 2009/10 and Rs 2.5 million in 2010/11. This tax was paid on income accrued from his shares in Chaudry Sugar Mills. The same mill was also producing him dividends in the years he was in exile but no tax was paid,” he asserted.

The PTI leader said that tax evasion by the Sharifs was not an issue which has come under scrutiny for the first time as Nawaz Sharif has been convicted in a tax evasion case in 1999 by the Lahore High Court. It was revealed that Sharif had failed to pay Federal Tax on a civilian Helicopter owned by him which was worth US$ one million at that time, concluded the PTI leader.