Imran sent to 14-day judicial remand in corruption case

Islamabad, Nov 28: A Pakistani accountability court on Monday sent Imran Khan on a 14-day judicial remand in a corruption case, rejecting the request of the country’s anti-graft body for extending the jailed former PM’s physical remand.

Judge Muhammad Bashir of the Islamabad Accountability Court presided over the hearing of the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case held at the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi, where Khan is currently jailed, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

The 71-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chief has been incarcerated in the high-security jail in Rawalpindi since September 26 in various cases.

Khan, the primary accused and his wife Bushra Bibi, 49, were present during the hearing held at the high-security jail. Khan’s sisters, Aleema Khanum and Noreen Khanum, were also present during the hearing, the report said.

Judge Bashir rejected the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) request for extending the former premier’s physical remand in the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case.

Instead, he sent the PTI chief on a 14-day judicial remand, according to the report.

On Sunday, the former cricketer-turned-politician was interrogated for over two hours in the Adiala jail by a NAB team in the case, a senior official of the apex anti-graft watchdog told the Dawn newspaper.

Officials from the accountability bureau have been visiting the Adiala Jail since November 15 to investigate Khan’s role in the case.

The Al-Qadir Trust case is about the settlement of 190 million pounds, about Rs 50 billion, which the UK’s National Crime Agency sent to Pakistan after recovering the amount from a Pakistani property tycoon.

Khan, being the prime minister then, instead of depositing in the national treasury, allowed the businessman to use the amount to partly settle a fine of about Rs 450 billion imposed by the Supreme Court some years ago.

The tycoon, in return, allegedly gifted about 57 acres of land to a trust set up by Khan and Bushra Bibi to establish the Al-Qadir University in the Sohawa area of the Jhelum district of Punjab.

The notice served to the accused says that the anti-corruption body took cognisance of the commission of offences of corruption and corrupt practices as defined under the NAB laws.

“In return for this favour illegally and dishonestly, Bahria Town Ltd gave material and monetary benefits in the shape of land measuring 458 kanals (57.25 acres), Rs 285 million, buildings etc disguised under the garb of donations to Al-Qadir University Trust in which you are one of the trustees and signed acknowledgement of donations with Bahria Town,” said a previous NAB notice to Bibi, who is also accused in the case. In the last hearing on Friday, the court granted four more days to the anti-graft body to interrogate the former prime minister in the case.

Khan has been in jail since August 5, when he was arrested due to a conviction in the Toshakhana corruption case. In September, he was shifted from the Attock prison to Adiala jail.

Khan was ousted through a vote of no-confidence in April 2022. More than 150 cases have been registered against him since his ouster from power.