August 5, 2012
Two opposition figures have accused Imran Khan of failing to file tax returns and losing money raised for his cancer hospital. Khan denies the allegations.
Imran Khan has been accused by rivals failing to file tax returns and losing money raised for his cancer hospital on international property markets.
August 5, 2012
Two opposition figures have accused Imran Khan of failing to file tax returns and losing money raised for his cancer hospital. Khan denies the allegations.
Imran Khan has been accused by rivals failing to file tax returns and losing money raised for his cancer hospital on international property markets.
In the surest sign yet that Khan, the former cricket captain turned politician, is being taken seriously by his rivals ahead of elections expected early next year, two senior opposition figures have questioned his reputation as a squeaky clean anti-corruption campaigner.
He denies the allegations.
Khan's party has stunned pundits and established politicians by drawing huge crowds of predominantly young voters energized by his promises to rid the country of a corruption-riddled elite.
This week Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, a senior leader of Pakistan's main opposition PML-N party, claimed Khan had made millions of rupees during the past 30 years but had not filed any tax returns until 2003.
It followed allegations made earlier by Khwaja Asif, from the same party, that millions of dollars raised for Khan's cancer hospital – built in memory of his mother – had been lost as international property markets plunged.
He also claimed that plum jobs had been given to family members.
Khan dismissed the allegations as an attempt to smear his reputation by a party that knew it was vulnerable on questions of corruption.
"The fear campaign has started," he told The Daily Telegraph.
He added that no money had been lost on property markets and that all the deals had been underwritten to protect the hospital.
"Tonight I am announcing that I am publishing 30 years of tax returns," he said. "I have been filing tax returns for years."
Khan is poised to make a breakthrough in the general election for the first time since setting up his Movement for Justice in 1996.
Until now he has only won a single seat, his own, which he gave up in 2008 when he boycotted elections.
This time observers suggest his party could win as many as 30 seats in a general election, making him a player in negotiations to form what is expected to be a coalition government.
The PML-N's rural Punjabi heartlands are thought to be the most at risk to Mr Khan's surging popularity.
Courtesy: Daily Telegraph
