A banking court in Islamabad on Thursday directed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to ensure his presence before the Investigating Officer (IO) in the prohibited funding case against his party.
In the bail application, the PTI chief’s lawyers had requested the court to restrain the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) from arresting Khan in a case related to financial irregularities in the party’s funding.
Today, the directive was issued after the court reserved judgment on Khan’s plea for extension of pre-arrest bail.
At the beginning of the hearing, Special Prosecutor Rizwan Abbasi requested the court to reject the former prime minister’s request, while the petitioner’s lawyer requested the court for two weeks extension on medical grounds.
Khan’s lawyer also requested the PTI chief to be exempted from appearing in court for today’s hearing.
The prosecutor said Khan has been politically active since an assassination attempt on his life during a PTI long march rally in Wazirabad in November.
Abbasi requested the court to reject the plea of immunity, saying that “they are running political affairs but do not appear in court.”
He claimed that Imran Khan neither appeared in the court nor joined the investigation, asking the court to ask the investigating officer to visit the PTI chief at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore.
When asked about the reason for Khan’s absence from the inquiry, his lawyer said there were many reasons why he could not appear before the investigating officer despite “his consent”.
He said that Khan has been injured in an assassination attempt and will appear before the IO as soon as the doctors allow him.
On this, Prosecutor Abbasi took a stand that the investigating officer cannot go to Lahore for investigation.
“Imran Khan appears on TV but not in courts,” Rizwan said, requesting the court to withdraw Khan’s interim bail order.
Judge Rukhshinda Shaheen rejected Khan’s lawyer’s request to question the former prime minister at his Zaman Park residence in Lahore.
The judge remarked that the investigating officer can conduct the investigation wherever he wants, the court will not interfere.
Meanwhile, the judge asked Khan’s counsel to help the court why it should not withdraw the interim bail.
He directed Khan to join the inquiry to ensure his presence before the IO in any case and adjourned the hearing till January 31.
FIA has started an investigation into banned funding case.
The FIA launched its nationwide probe into PTI’s use of funds from “prohibited” sources in August 2022 after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ruled that the party had received illegal donations. .
On 2 August 2022, the ECP, in a unanimous decision, said it had found that PTI received prohibited funding.
The commission found that donations were received from the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Arab Emirates.
The case – earlier called the “Foreign Funding” case – was filed in November 2014 after party founder member Akbar S Babar alleged gross financial irregularities in the party’s funding from Pakistan and abroad. It was installed.
