- Assistant counsel Faisal Ch requested adjournment after the lawyers of Imran, his wife did not turn up
- NAB prosecutor accuses couple’s counsels of ‘delaying tactics’ despite ample chances to cross-examine witness
RAWALPINDI: The Accountability Court on Tuesday put off the hearing of the acquittal pleas filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and wife Bushra Bibi in the £190m reference till September 12.
Accountability Court Judge Nasir Javed Rana presided over the hearing held at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail wherein former prime minister Imran Khan and former first lady Bushra Bibi were present.
On Saturday, the PTI founder had filed the acquittal plea in the £190 million reference following the Supreme Court reinstated the amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), accepting the government’s intra-court appeals filed against Sept 15, 2023 verdict.
Khan and his spouse are accused of causing billions of rupees loss to the national exchequer. Last week, the court had reserved verdict on Bushra’s acquittal plea in the case.
During the hearing on Tuesday, the legal team of Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi did not show up in the court due to their engagement in the Lahore High Court (LHC) and therefore, the last witness in the case – Mian Umer Nadeem couldn’t be cross-examined.
Furthermore, assistant counsel Faisal Chaudhry’s request seeking adjournment of the hearing was opposed by the NAB’s prosecution team.
The anti-graft body’s prosecutor said that Khan and Bushra’s counsels were using delaying tactics in the case as they have been given 16 opportunities to cross-examine the last witness in the reference.
Noting that 12 affidavits have been submitted by the defence lawyers in this reference, the NAB prosecutor said that since counsels Barrister Ali Zafar and Chaudhry were present at the moment, they should cross-examine the witness.
At this, Chaudhry requested the court for a chance and said that they would cross-examine the witness if the lawyers failed to appear in the next hearing.
£190 million case
As per the charges, Khan and other accused allegedly adjusted Rs50 billion — £190 million at the time — sent by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Pakistani government as part of the agreement with the property tycoon.
Subsequently, then-prime minister Khan got approval for the settlement with the UK crime agency from his cabinet on December 3, 2019, without disclosing the details of the confidential agreement.
It was decided that the money would be submitted to the Supreme Court on behalf of the tycoon.
According to the NAB officials, Khan and his wife obtained land worth billions of rupees from the property tycoon, to build an educational institute, in return for striking a deal to give legal cover to the property tycoon’s black money received from the UK crime agency.
