The UK Court of Appeal has ordered the MQM-Pakistan (MQM-P) to pay MQM founder Altaf Hussain £65,000 (approximately Rs23.3 million) in legal costs, Geo News reported.

The ruling comes after a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel at the Court of Appeal’s Civil Division, which accepted Hussain’s appeal and overturned an earlier decision that had favored the MQM-P leaders.

The court has also permitted the release of £77,760 into Hussain’s lawyer’s account, which he was previously asked to deposit after a single bench judge had ruled against him.

It is common practice for courts to order the losing party to pay costs to the claimants or winning party, especially when the defendant opposes requests or applications.

MQM-P spokesperson Mustafa Azizabadi stated that Hussain would soon be launching a claim of over £100,000 against the MQM-P for the legal costs incurred during the initial stage of the trial before the insolvency and companies Judge.

MQM-P leader and the claimant in the case, Syed Aminul Haque, has confirmed that he would instruct his London-based lawyer to comply with the court orders.

The legal battle stems from the 2016 defection of MQM-P leaders from Altaf Hussain, who has been living in self-imposed exile in the UK since the early 2000s.

Last year, the MQM-P had triumphed over Hussain when the court said that seven London properties valued at about GBP10 million were the possession of the MQM-P. The party was declared to be the beneficiaries of the trusts and therefore of the properties.