Imran Khan sent to 14-day judicial remand in Al-Qadir Trust corruption case

Islamabad: A special court here on Monday sent jailed ex-Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan to 14-days judicial remand in a corruption case after it rejected a plea of the anti-corruption watchdog to grant his physical custody to further probe him.

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’s wife Bushra Bibi, a co-accused in the case of Rs 50 billion alleged sleaze, Khan’s sisters Aleema Khanum and Noreen Khanum and the legal team of the couple appeared before the Islamabad-based Accountability Court of Judge Muhammad Bashir, who conducted the hearing in the Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi.

A strong five-member prosecution team of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was also present on the occasion, pressing for his physical remand in the Al Qadir Trust case.

However, the judge rejected the plea and sent him to jail on judicial remand for 14 days.

Khan was already in the Adiala jail in the cipher case when on November 14 he was again arrested by NAB in the Al-Qadir Trust case. He was then handed over to the watchdog on physical remand.

Earlier, the Dawn newspaper reported that a Pakistan anti-corruption watchdog team quizzed Khan in jail in a multibillion rupee corruption case.

A senior official of NAB told Dawn that their team visited Khan in the Adiala Jail on Sunday and interrogated him for over two hours in connection with charges he faces in the 190 million pounds (Rs 50 billion) in the Al Qadir Trust case.

Officials from the anti-graft watchdog have been visiting Adiala Jail since November 15 to investigate Khan’s role in the case.

After today’s hearing, Khan’s counsel Sardar Latif Khosa told the media that he had opposed the physical remand in the case because it was unnecessary.

He said that NAB was involved in “political engineering and political vendetta”.

Khosa also quoted Khan as saying about NAB’s interrogation in jail that the official questioning him spent most of the time in just chit-chatting with him.

"The chairman says they [investigators] question him for 10 minutes and then indulge in chit-chatting for three to four hours,” said Khosa.

Khan and his wife are accused of obtaining billions of rupees and land from Bahria Town Ltd for legalising Rs 50 billion that was identified and returned to Pakistan by the United Kingdom during the previous PTI government.

The case relates to the alleged illegal acquisition of land for and construction of Al Qadir University involving unlawful benefit given in the recovery of prime proceeds through the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) in a money laundering case against real estate tycoon Malik Riaz and his family.

Khan is also accused of misleading the cabinet by concealing the facts related to the settlement agreement. Money was received under the settlement agreement and was supposed to be deposited in the national exchequer. But it was adjusted in the recovery of Rs 450 bn liabilities of Bahria Town Karachi (BTK).

The notice served on the accused says that the anti-graft watchdog 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 and other kinds 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 Mr Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi.

Khan has been in jail since August 5 when he was arrested due to a conviction in the Toshakhana Case.

Separately, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf said that Khan and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi would appear before a special court on Tuesday (Nov 28) in the cipher case. The two are accused of violating the secret laws of the country.

The proceedings of the case would be held outside the jail as regular court premises in Islamabad, according to PTI after the IHC last week ruled against the jail trial of the two.