VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

 Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday tendered an apology in a contempt of court case, his defence lawyer said, a step back that could help him avoid disqualification from politics.

The court has deferred a decision on whether to indict Khan, said the lawyer, Faisal Chaudhry, adding the court had directed the politician to submit an unconditional apology in writing by Oct. 3.

The charges are related to a speech by Khan in which he allegedly threatened police and judicial officers last month after one of his close aides was denied bail in a sedition case.

"The court has appreciated the gesture," Chaudhry told Reuters, adding he expected charges would mostly be dropped after the apology.

The court was expected to release a written copy of its ruling in due course. Local media present inside the courtroom quoted Khan, saying, "I apologise if I crossed any red lines."

Three local journalists who were inside the courtroom also told Reuters that Khan had proffered the verbal apology.

"We will prepare and submit in writing an unconditional apology as sought by the court," Chaudhry said.

The high court was due to indict Khan, a move that could lead to his exclusion from politics if convicted.

A convicted politician is liable to be disqualified for at least five years under Pakistani laws.

LEGAL WOES

The cricket-star turned politician has faced a barrage of legal woes since his ouster in a confidence vote in April by a united opposition led by his successor, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Another of the critical cases against him is related to foreign funding for his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which an inquiry by an election tribunal has found unlawful.

Analysts say Khan, who won election in 2018 with the backing of Pakistan's military, fell out of favour with the powerful generals in his last months in office.

Both Khan and military deny that version of events.

The former premier has led big rallies since his ouster, demanding snap polls, which the ruling coalition has rejected, saying elections will be held as scheduled later in 2023.

He has also called supporters to an anti-government country-wide protest campaign starting Saturday that will culminate in a march on the capital Islamabad.

Islamabad police brought up the charges after Khan's public remarks that he would not spare the police and a judicial officer, who had denied bail to his aide.

Khan and his legal team subsequently said the remarks were not meant to be a threat, but that he would take legal action against the officers. 

The court had rejected the explanation. (Reuters)

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, on Friday in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, the State Department said on Thursday. (Reuters)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Japan on Sept. 27 to attend the state funeral of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the Indian government said on Thursday.

Modi will also separately meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the statement added.

Abe, the longest-serving leader of modern Japan, was gunned down in July while campaigning for a parliamentary election. (Reuters)

Beijing has sent a team of regulatory officials to Hong Kong to assist the U.S. audit watchdog with onsite audit inspections involving Chinese companies, four people familiar with the matter said, as part of a landmark deal between the two countries.

A China-U.S. agreement last month allows U.S. regulators, for the first time, to inspect China-based accounting firms that audit New York-listed companies, a major step towards resolving an audit dispute that threatened to boot more than 200 Chinese companies from U.S. exchanges.

About 10 officials from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) have arrived in Hong Kong and joined the audit inspection, which started on Monday, three of the people said.

The officials will assist a team of inspectors from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), the U.S. audit watchdog, who are in Hong Kong for the onsite inspection, the four people said.

All of the sources declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Representatives at CSRC and MOF did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. The PCAOB did not respond to Reuters queries sent outside U.S. business hours.

The gathering of U.S. and Chinese officials together in Hong Kong marks a major step forward in what was expected to be a fraught process implementing the audit deal, the most detailed agreement the PCAOB has ever reached with China.

State-owned China Southern Airlines and data centre company GDS Holdings are among the U.S.-listed Chinese companies for audit inspection in the Asian financial hub, two separate sources said.

China Southern Airlines and GDS did not respond to requests for comment.

Reuters reported last month that U.S. regulators had picked a number of U.S.-listed Chinese companies including e-commerce majors Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK) and JD.com Inc (9618.HK) for audit inspection.

FULL ACCESS

Officials from the CSRC, which has been leading negotiations with U.S. authorities to resolve the audit dispute, are expected to be present when the PCAOB conducts interviews with and takes testimony from the audit firms' staff, one of the four people familiar with the audit process said.

The whole inspection process will last about eight to 10 weeks, said two of the four sources, in line with comments by U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler in a meeting with lawmakers last week.

It was not clear whether the Chinese officials would be present for every step of the inspection process with PCAOB representatives.

A separate source familiar with the matter said that involvement by the Chinese regulators was consistent with the way the PCAOB conducts inspections elsewhere around the world and that the U.S. watchdog was not giving China any special consideration.

U.S. regulators have for more than a decade demanded access to audit papers of U.S.-listed Chinese companies, but Beijing has been reluctant to let U.S. regulators inspect its accounting firms, citing national security concerns.

Despite the audit deal, legal experts and China watchers last month warned they could still clash over how it is interpreted and implemented, with the U.S. side seeking full access to Chinese audit papers without any consultation or input from Chinese regulators.

Beijing's statement on the deal last month, however, emphasised that the U.S. watchdog will have to obtain documents through the Chinese regulators, and must involve the China side during interviews and testimony taking.

The onsite inspections by the PCAOB are being conducted in the Hong Kong offices of the selected Chinese companies' audit firms, said two of the sources.

The PCAOB will spend the first week inspecting the auditors' compliance and internal control systems and move to review the audit working papers of selected companies from the second week, they added.

In line with the U.S. regulators' statements, the PCAOB inspectors can see complete audit work papers without any redactions, and they will adopt view-only procedures for personally identifiable information, the two sources said. (Reuters)