UK courts orders MQMP to pay £65,000 to Altaf Hussain

LONDON: Three Lord Justices of the UK Court of Appeal has ordered the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQMP) to pay £65000 (around Rs23.3 million) to MQM leader and founder Altaf Hussain before July 30, 2024 towards legal costs after Altaf Hussain won two days’ hearing at the Court of Appeal against his former devotees at MQMP who defected from him in August 2016.

According to the order released by the court following a unanimous decision by three judges accepting Altaf Hussain’s appeal and overturning an earlier decision in MQMP’s favour, the Court of Appeal’s Civil Division has ordered the MQMP to pay £65000 towards the costs of the appeal. Generally, the courts order the losing party to make such payments to the claimants or winning side when such applications or petitions are opposed, to begin with, by the defendants.

The court has also permitted Altaf Hussain for the release of £77,760 into his lawyer’s account – the amount Hussain was asked to deposit earlier after the single bench judge gave a decision against him.

MQM’s spokesman Mustafa Azizabadi told Geo News that Hussain will soon be launching a claim of over £100,000 at the court against MQMP for the legal costs incurred during the first part of the trial before the Insolvency and Companies Judge Clive Jones.

MQMP leader and the claimant in the case Syed Aminul Haque told Geo and The News over the phone from Karachi he will instruct his lawyer in London to comply with the court orders. The former federal law minister said, “We are a rule of law party. We will comply with all court orders. We won unequivocally before the Insolvency and Companies Judge Clive Jones and we will win again. MQM-London is making it as if the case is over. It’s not. The UK Court of Appeal has sent the case back to the lower court to look at a few unresolved issues. We are confident we will win there, again. The UK properties belong to MQMP and we will get these properties for the benefit of the families or our workers and our martyrs.”

After overturning the initial decision, the court order by the three Lord Justices directs that the constitutional issue shall be remitted back to the high court for a further hearing, such hearing to take place before a judge other than the Insolvency and Companies Judge Jones; the purpose of the further hearing will be to determine whether the claimant Syed Aminul Haque as a representative of MQMP can prove that amendments made to the April 2016 constitution of MQM on 31st August/1st September 2016 were constitutional as a result of which he has locus standi to bring the claim.

The court order states that the further hearing shall proceed on the basis that as of 31st August 2016 the April 2016 constitution was MQMP constitution; the true effect and extent of Altaf Hussain stepping down on 23rd August 2016 remains an issue for the further hearing; any findings made by the judge as to the impact or the significance of the events after 1st September 2016 have been overruled by the Court of Appeal; and Aminul Haque is a representative of the members of MQN-P and entitled to bring this claim on their behalf.

Last week, three judges of the UK’s Court of Appeal accepted Altaf Hussain’s appeal against the judgment handed down over a year ago by the Insolvency and Companies Judge Clive Jones - depriving Mr Hussain of six London properties worth around £10 million, in favour of the Pakistani faction of MQM led by Syed Aminul Haque and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.

Altaf Hussain had appealed the single judge’s decision before the Court of Appeal, arguing that the judge failed to take into consideration basic facts of how his party was hijacked by Dr Farooq Sattar and other MQM leaders in Karachi who didn’t let Altaf return to the MQM after his 22nd August 2016 speech and then his voluntary relinquishing of powers to Dr Farooq Sattar and the Central Coordination Committee (CCC).

The ICC Judge Clive Jones had declared that the MQM leader and former Federal Minister Syed Aminul Haque was right to bring a claim for the trusts properties; that the real and legitimate MQM was the one based in Pakistan and therefore beneficiary of the six London properties.

The Court of Appeal judges Lord Justice Arnold, Lord Justice Moylan and Lord Justice Nugee have overturned the High Court Judge Clive Jones’ 13th March 2023 ruling that MQMP is MQM and that Altaf Hussain and his supporters do not have a valid defense as trustees to challenge the unconstitutional acts of MQMP on 31st August/1st September 2016.

On Thursday, Altaf Hussain addressed a press conference to “celebrate” his win at the Court of Appeal. He praised former accountability minister Shehzad Akbar who said in a tweet that the case against Hussain was started four year ago – when PTI and MQM were partners in government under Imran Khan as PM – by the state of Pakistan and MQMP was only a tool in the hands of the state. Akbar also named a minister of the Imran Khan cabinet who played the key part.

Altaf Hussain said that that minister was Barrister Farogh Nasim who “conspired against me and changed the constitution of the MQM”. Altaf Hussain thanked Shehzad Akbar for setting the record straight and speaking the truth.