ISLAMABAD: On Monday, an accountability court denied the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) plea for an extension of PTI chief Imran Khan’s physical remand. The court placed Khan under judicial remand in the Al Qadir Trust case.
Accountability Judge Mohammad Bashir issued these orders during the hearing at Adiala Jail on Monday.
This decision followed a NAB team’s interrogation of Imran at the jail the day before, related to the case.
The case alleges that Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, acquired substantial funds and land from Bahria Town Ltd to legitimize a sum of Rs50 billion, repatriated to Pakistan by the UK during the previous PTI government.
Imran was initially arrested in connection with this case earlier in the year at the Islamabad High Court but was released after the Supreme Court deemed the arrest unlawful.
On November 14, the PTI chief, already in Adiala Jail on another charge, was arrested by NAB in the Al-Qadir Trust case and put on physical remand.
During the recent hearing, Imran’s wife and legal team attended, along with a five-member NAB team. Despite NAB’s request for an extension of his physical remand, the court dismissed the plea, opting for judicial remand instead.
Imran’s counsel, Sardar Latif Khosa, criticized the need for physical remand, labeling NAB as a tool for political manipulation and vendettas, allegedly exploited by the government for its benefits.
Quoting Imran, Khosa highlighted the lengthy informal discussions during NAB’s interrogations, claiming that minimal time was spent on actual questioning.
Imran faces accusations of misleading the cabinet regarding a settlement agreement where received funds (140 million pounds) were meant for the national exchequer but were adjusted against Bahria Town Karachi’s liabilities.
NAB’s notice cited the freezing of substantial funds in UK bank accounts of Pakistani nationals linked to Bahria Town’s owner, Malik Riaz.
It noted that instead of repatriating the funds, they were transferred to cover Bahria Town liabilities, which were meant to be deposited in a designated account supervised by the Supreme Court registrar.
Recently, the Supreme Court directed the transfer of Rs35 billion from Bahria Town’s settlement to the federal government, underscoring ongoing legal actions surrounding this case.
