islamabad: An accountability court in Pakistan on Monday sent former Prime Minister Imran Khan to 14-day judicial custody and rejected the request of the country’s anti-corruption body to extend Khan’s remand.
Islamabad Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir heard the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, ‘The Express Tribune’ newspaper reported. Khan is lodged in this jail. The 71-year-old chief of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party is lodged in a high-security jail in Rawalpindi since September 26 in various cases. Main accused Khan and his 49-year-old wife Bushra Bibi were present during the hearing in the high security jail.
Khan’s sisters Alima Khanum and Noreen Khanum were also present during the hearing, the report said. Judge Bashir rejected the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) request to extend Khan’s remand in the Al-Qadir corruption case. According to the news, the judge sent him to judicial custody for 14 days. A senior NAB official told ‘Dawn’ newspaper that the team of the anti-corruption watchdog had interrogated the PTI chief for more than two hours in Adiala jail on Sunday.
Accountability Bureau officials have been visiting Adiala jail since November 15 to probe Khan’s role in the case. The Al-Qadir Trust case pertains to a transaction worth around Rs 50 billion which was transferred to Pakistan by Britain’s National Crime Agency after recovery from a Pakistani businessman. Khan was the Prime Minister at that time and instead of depositing this amount in the national treasury, he allowed the businessman to use this amount for partial payment of the fine of Rs 450 billion imposed on him by the Supreme Court a few years ago.
The businessman, in turn, had allegedly gifted about 57 acres of land to a trust formed by Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi for the establishment of Al-Qadir University in Sohawa area in Punjab’s Jhelum district. The notice served to the accused said the anti-corruption body has taken cognizance of the offenses of corruption and corrupt practices as defined under NAB laws. Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi is also an accused in the case.
NAB’s earlier notice sent to Bushra Bibi said, “In return for this illegal and dishonest favor, ‘Bahria Town Limited’ has given the Al-Qadir University Trust, of which you (Bushra Bibi) are one of the trustees.” One was given 458 kanals of land, Rs 28.5 crore, buildings and other types of material and monetary benefits in the guise of donations. You signed an acknowledgment of donation with Bahria Town.”
During the last hearing on Friday, the court had given four more days to the anti-corruption body to interrogate the former Prime Minister in the case. Khan has been in jail since August 5 when he was arrested in the Toshakhana corruption case. In September, he was sent from Attock jail to Adiala jail. Former cricketer-turned-politician Khan had lost the trust vote in April 2022. More than 150 cases have been registered against him since his removal from office and power.