LAHORE: Jahangir Tareen and his wife, not his children, are beneficiaries of the offshore company he set up, BBC’s analysis of the trust deed submitted by Jahangir Tareen to the Supreme Court has revealed. Tareen had declared in his statement submitted to the Supreme Court that his children were the beneficiaries of the offshore company and he [Tareen] was only the settler of the trust.
In November 2016, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Hanif Abbasi filed a petition for the disqualification of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Secretary General Jahangir Tareen, alleging that Jahangir did not declare his offshore company in his nomination papers for the 2013 general elections.
In response to this, Jahangir Tareen, in a statement submitted to the Supreme Court, asserted that his self-sufficient children were beneficiaries of the offshore company under a trust in which he (Jahangir Tareen) had no beneficial interest. Jahangir said he was just a settler of the trust, hence not legally obliged to declare the offshore property in his nomination papers.
According to schedule 3 of the trust deed submitted by Tareen to the Supreme Court – signed on May 5, 2011 between the settler [Jahangir Tareen] and the trustee [HSBC Guyerzeller Trust Company], only Tareen and his wife were discretionary beneficiaries of the trust.
It should be mentioned that, according to the trust deed, the settler [Jahangir Tareen] had the right to add or remove anyone as a lifetime beneficiary of the trust. But to do so, he had to inform the trustee [HSBC Guyerzeller Trust Company] in writing. Therefore, if Jahangir added his children as lifetime beneficiaries of the trust, he would have a written record of that.
Tareen’s lawyer, Sikandar Momand, did not respond to questions regarding the trust deed, sent through WhatsApp, as he couldn’t be reached by phone call. Momand was asked that if the trust deed showed Jahangir Tareen as the beneficiary, wouldn’t it negate Tareen’s statement in the Supreme Court that his children and not he was the beneficiary of the offshore company?
Momand was further asked whether Jahangir Tareen signed the trust deed himself and then added his children as trust beneficiaries later? He was asked if Jahangir had done so, when did he do it? And does he have any proof?
Jahangir Tareen’s lawyer, Sikandar Momand, was yet to respond to any of the questions.
BBC also spoke to PTI Spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry, who insisted that children of Jahangir Tareen were indeed the beneficiaries of the trust. When asked which clause of the trust made Jahangir’s children the trust’s beneficiaries, Fawad referred to schedule 4 of the trust.
According to schedule 4 of the trust, Tareen’s wife and children are mentioned as trust beneficiaries, but the schedule can only be implemented in the case of Jahangir Tareen’s death.
According to the trust deed’s clause 7, in the case of Jahangir Tareen’s death, his children and grandchildren would become beneficiaries of the trust. Although it is not clear, how the trust deed’s clause 7 is applicable in Jahangir Tareen’s lifetime.
According to the trust deed’s clause 7, in the case of Jahangir Tareen’s death, the trustee [HSBC Guyerzeller Trust Company] would use the offshore company’s income and capital according to the deed’s schedule 4.
According to legal experts, the trust deed’s clause 6.3 says the trustee [HSBC Guyerzeller Trust Company] can give the entire sum of the trust, or a part of it, to the ‘discretionary lifetime beneficiary’, which were Jahangir Tareen and his wife when the deed was signed. Schedule 4 of the trust deed mentions Tareen’s wife and children as ‘discretionary beneficiaries’, only after Tareen’s death.
According to schedule 4 item 2, in the case of Tareen’s death, his wife has the right to ask the trustee [HSBC Guyerzeller Trust Company] to transfer the trust’s income to her or anyone else.
According to schedule 4 item 3, on Jahangir Tareen’s wife’s instructions, the trustee [HSBC Guyerzeller Trust Company] can give the trust’s income to discretionary beneficiaries; which according to schedule 4, would be Jahangir Tareen’s wife, children and grandchildren, but only in the case of Tareen’s death.
According to the details of the trust, the beneficiaries of the trust, during Tareen’s life time, are Jahangir Tareen and his wife, not his children.
It remains unclear if there is further information that is not included in the trust deed.
Published in Daily Times, November 16th 2017.
