Pakistan’s accountability court on Monday rejected the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) request for an extension of physical remand for Imran Khan, the leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Instead, the court opted for judicial remand in connection with the Al Qadir Trust Case.
Imran Khan had been initially arrested earlier this year at the Islamabad High Court, but his release followed a ruling by the Supreme Court, deeming the arrest unlawful. However, on November 14, the PTI leader, already in custody at Adiala Jail for the cipher case, faced a renewed arrest by NAB in the Al-Qadir Trust case, resulting in his placement on physical remand.
During the recent court hearing, Imran Khan’s wife and legal team were present, alongside a five-person NAB team. Despite NAB’s plea for an extension of physical remand, the court denied the request, choosing judicial remand instead.
In a subsequent media interview, Imran’s attorney, Sardar Latif Khosa, criticized the necessity of physical remand in this case. He argued that NAB was involved in “political engineering and political vendetta,” alleging that the government was leveraging it for its agenda.
The accusations against Khan and his wife involve the alleged receipt of billions of rupees and hundreds of kanals of land from Bahria Town Ltd. The funds were purportedly for legalizing Pakistani Rupees (PKR) 50 billion, identified and returned to Pakistan by the UK during the PTI-led government’s tenure, as reported by Dawn.
The case is related to the alleged illegal acquisition of land for building Al Qadir University, implicating unlawful benefits in the recovery of prime proceeds (140 million pounds) through the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) in a money laundering case against real estate businessman Malik Riaz and his family.
(Inputs from ANI)