KHEMLANI REAPPEARS

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33985, 28 October 1975, Page 17

KHEMLANI REAPPEARS

Zealand Press Association—Copyright)

SYDNEY, October 27.

The Middle East financier, Mr Tirath Khemlani, a Pakistani, said today that he intended to place all. documents and information relevant to the Australian overseas loans affair before the Bar of the Senate as soon as possible.

Mr Khemlani was speaking at Sydney Airport through his solicitor, Mr J. F, Licardi, on his return, apparently without a visa to Australia this morning.

Mr Licardi said that. Mr Khemlani had returned “to put before the Australian people the full facts of the loan issue.” He had come of his own accord: no political partv had asked him to come, he had received no invitation from the Liberal Party, and he was paying his own fare and expenses. “Mr Khemlani's sole objec-

tive is to clear his name,” Mr Licardi said. “He is an honest businessman who has suffered considerably bv the loans issue. When he tables all the telexes, documents, and other information before the Senate, he feels, his actions throughout the whole affair will be vindicated.” Mr Licardi said that Mr Khemlani did not want-to embarass the Government by his return to Australia; he just wanted to clear his name, which had been tarnished by the Government and other people involved in the loans affair.

It would be up to the Senate, he said, to decide when Mr Khemlani should appear before the Senate bar, but Mr Khemlani had suffered substantial losses through the affair, and he was anxious to appear as soon as possible. No visa In Canberra, the Minister for Labour and Immigration (Senator James McClelland) issued a statement warning Mr Khemlani that he could not do any business in Australia without a transit visa. “He has been told this previously, was told again on his last visit, and was told through his solicitor again on Friday night on my personal instructions. “Yet he arrived in Australia this morning, without the necessary visa but with an airways ticket which indicated that he intended to leave Sydney and to visit Canberra.

“. . . His proper course, if he wishes to carry out business affairs, is to apply for a visa before his arrival,” the statement said. “He was warned on his last visit to Australia that this procedure would be enforced in future.”