Pakistan court approves bail to Imran Khan in prohibited funding case

Imran Khan. File Pic

A Pakistan court on Monday approved the interim bail of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan in the prohibited funding case. A court in Islamabad granted interim bail against the surety bond of Rs 100,000, valid till October 31, Geo News reported.

The move to seek bail from the special court came after Islamabad High Court (IHC), last week, granted protective bail to the PTI chairman till October 18 (Tuesday) in the same case under the condition that Khan would approach the relevant court.

The Federal Investigation Agency registered the case against Imran khan and his party members for allegedly submitting false affidavits to the Election Commission of Pakistan in connection with a prohibited funding case against his party, Dawn reported.

PTI chief Imran Khan sought bail after the FIA's Commerical Bank Circle in Islamabad registered a first information report (FIR) against him and other PTI leaders on October 6.

The FIR stated: "[The] PTI submitted an affidavit of [Abraaj founder], Arif Masood Naqvi, before the Election Commission of Pakistan stating therein that all the amounts collected in the accounts of WCL (Wootton Cricket Limited) were submitted into PTI's account in Pakistan...[the] affidavit has been proved to be false/forged as two more transactions were also made from WCL to two different accounts in Pakistan in May 2013."

It also mentioned United Bank Limited (UBL) for its failure to report suspicious transactions to the authorities concerned, reported Dawn.

Subsequently, Imran filed a plea for protective bail, contending that relief was needed so he could "surrender and approach the competent court having [the] jurisdiction to entertain [his] bail petition".

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During the hearing of the case, Imran's lawyer, Salman Safdar told the court that two other people booked in the same case by the FIA earlier approached a court for bail. However, the female additional sessions judge had recused herself from hearing both cases, he added.

"This case belongs to either the banking court or special central court. There is no mention of fake accounts in it," the lawyer said as quoted by Dawn.

Pakistan probe agency filed the FIR, including sections 420, 468, 471, 477-A, and 109 read with sections 5 and 23 of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1947.

Apart from Imran Khan, Sardar Azhar Tariq, Tariq Shafi, and Younis Aamir Kiani have also been named in the FIR, the report added.

According to the FIR, the probe agency alleged that Abraaj Group, a capital market company had transferred USD 2100,000 to the PTI account in the branch of a bank situated at Jinnah Avenue in Islamabad.

It is pertinent to mention that Abraaj Group is currently in liquidation due to accusations of fraud. In addition, the party received more financing from two bank accounts of Wootton Cricket Club, read the FIR. The probe agency said that the manager of the private bank also helped FIA in investigating the questionable transactions.

According to Geo News, the FIA said that the affidavit submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan by businessman Arif Naqvi was also false.

The FIR also mentioned the manager of the same bank branch had also been nominated in the case. It added that there were 12 currency transaction reports and suspicious transaction reports that had to be reported by the bank officials to the concerned authorities, but they failed to do so.

The FIR came a day after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued a notice to the FIA in the prohibited funding case after Imran Khan's party asked the institution to stop the agency from the investigation.

On October 10, a district court in Lahore sent PTI leader Hamid Zaman on a 14-day judicial remand in the prohibited funding case.

The FIA had registered a case against Zaman, a trustee of the Insaf Trust, over prohibited party funding.

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