Imran Khan
RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, on Saturday, filed a plea for acquittal in the £190 million case, following the Supreme Court’s verdict regarding amendments to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) laws.
The petition was filed during a hearing at the accountability court inside Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail. Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, are accused of causing a loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer.
Imran Khan’s legal counsel argued that the £190 million case against Khan is no longer valid after the Supreme Court’s decision on the NAB amendments.
The amendments provided legal protection to all decisions made by the cabinet, and as such, the lawyer asserted that the case should be dismissed.
In response, the NAB prosecutor questioned whether the accountability court still had jurisdiction over the case after the amendments. The prosecutor stated that if the court maintained jurisdiction, then Imran Khan’s plea for acquittal could proceed.
However, Khan’s lawyer clarified that they were not challenging the court’s jurisdiction, leaving it to the court’s discretion to determine its authority in the matter.
Following these arguments, the accountability court adjourned the hearing on Imran Khan’s acquittal plea until September 10. The plea was filed after the Supreme Court, on Friday, accepted intra-court appeals against the majority judgment issued on September 15, 2023, which had previously struck down amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO).
A five-member bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faiz Isa, accepted the appeals submitted by both federal and provincial governments against the September 15 verdict.
The apex court observed that the PTI founder could not prove the NAB amendments were unconstitutional. This recent verdict was reserved on June 6 after multiple appeals against the earlier judgment issued by the then-Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial.
The initial ruling had declared nine out of ten amendments made to the NAB laws “null and void,” following a petition filed by Imran Khan in June 2022.
These amendments, passed in April 2022 during a joint sitting of parliament led by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government, modified several sections of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, including sections 2, 4, 5, 6, 25, and 26.
The £190 million settlement case revolves around allegations that Khan and other accused individuals adjusted Rs50 billion (equivalent to £190 million at that time) sent by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Pakistani government as part of an agreement with a prominent property tycoon.
It is alleged that then-Prime Minister Imran Khan obtained approval for the settlement with the UK crime agency from his cabinet on December 3, 2019, without disclosing the details of the confidential agreement.
According to this settlement, the money was to be deposited in the Supreme Court on behalf of the property tycoon.
NAB officials further allege that Imran Khan and his wife received land worth billions of rupees from the property tycoon to build an educational institution.
In return, they are accused of providing legal cover to the tycoon’s allegedly illicit funds received from the UK crime agency. The outcome of the acquittal plea will depend on the accountability court’s determination of its jurisdiction following the recent NAB amendments.
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