ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani accountability court has denied Imran Khan’s request for acquittal in the £190 million case. The court will resume on September 13 to cross-examine the final witness in the case, the investigating officer.
The hearing, presided over by Judge Nasir Javed Rana at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail on Thursday, comes after the court had previously adjourned a plea for acquittal filed by Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, on September 10. Imran Khan and his wife had filed the plea after a recent Supreme Court decision on amendments to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) laws.
Khan and Bushra Bibi face allegations of causing significant financial loss to the national exchequer. Last week, the court had reserved its judgment on Bushra’s plea for acquittal.
During the hearing, Khan and Bushra’s legal team failed to appear due to commitments at the Lahore High Court, which resulted in a delay in cross-examining Mian Umer Nadeem, the case’s last witness and investigating officer. Assistant counsel Faisal Chaudhry’s request to adjourn was contested by the NAB prosecution team, who accused the defence of employing delay tactics.
The prosecutor said that the defence had already been granted 16 opportunities to cross-examine the witness and highlighted that 12 affidavits had been submitted.
In response, Chaudhry requested additional time to cross-examine the witness if the defence lawyers did not appear at the next hearing.
Overview of the £190 Million Case
The £190 million case involves allegations against Khan and other accused parties regarding the handling of funds sent by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Pakistani government.
The funds, initially worth £190 million, were linked to a settlement with a property tycoon. It is alleged that Khan, as Prime Minister, approved this settlement in December 2019 without revealing the details of the agreement.
The case claims that Khan and Bushra Bibi received land worth billions of rupees from the tycoon in exchange for providing legal cover to the tycoon’s illicit funds received from the UK crime agency.
