A special court in Islamabad granted former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan interim bail till Oct 31 in a case registered against him and other party leaders by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in connection with their party allegedly receiving prohibited funding.<\/p>\n
Special Judge Raja Asif Mehmood heard the petition, which was filed earlier today. The court directed Imran to submit a bail bond of Rs100,000.<\/p>\n
In the petition, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, Imran stated that since his political rivals could not find any charge of corruption against him, the \u201cinvestigating agency in questionable exercise and abuse of its powers has made hectic efforts to register false and fabricated case against the petitioner based on a serious allegation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Last month, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had issued its verdict in the prohibited funding case \u2014 previously referred to as the foreign funding case \u2014 against the PTI, which stated that the party did indeed receive prohibited funding.<\/p>\n
In the verdict, the commission noted that the party \u201cknowingly and willfully\u201d received funding from Wootton Cricket Limited, operated by business tycoon Arif Naqvi. The party was a \u201cwilling recipient\u201d of prohibited money of $2,121,500, it said.<\/p>\n
The ECP said that the party \u201cknowingly and willfully\u201d also received donations from Bristol Engineering Services (a UAE-based company), E-Planet Trustees (a Cayman Islands private registered company), SS Marketing Manchester (a UK-based private company), PTI USA LLC-6160 and PTI USA LLC-5975 which were \u201chit by prohibition and in violation of Pakistani laws\u201d.<\/p>\n
The PTI, however, claims that all money it received was actually donations from Pakistanis living abroad and did not fall under the premise of illegal funding.<\/p>\n
Subsequently, the FIA registered a case naming Imran, Sardar Azhar Tariq Khan, Saifullah Khan Nyazee, Syed Yunus Ali Raza, Aamer Mehmood Kiani, Tariq Rahim Sheikh, Tariq Shafi, Faisal Maqbool Shaikh, Hamid Zaman and Manzoor Ahmad Chaudhary as signatories\/beneficiaries of the PTI account in question.<\/p>\n
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) had granted the PTI chairman protective bail in the case till October 18 (tomorrow). In the order, the IHC had said, \u201cthe petitioner may approach the court of learned special judge in order to avail remedies provided under the law.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the petition filed today, Imran argued that \u201cnot a single penny was received or withdrawn by [him] in his \u2018personal bank account\u2019 and neither does the FIR disclose any \u2018personal gain\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHence, no scheduled offence had been made out and the FIA, in sheer haste, has abused its authority. Such repeated nomination of the petitioner in various FIRs only reaffirms the inclination of \u2018state functionaries\u2019 towards exercise of authority in achieving undue and unlawful advantages.\u201d<\/p>\n
The petition stated that the allegations in the FIR were based on assumptions and conclusions and criminal proceedings were started against Imran without any investigation. While the FIA had stated the transactions through the account were proceeds of crime, it had \u201cnothing\u201d to establish it, the petition said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnother prime aspect is the absence of any action, or conduction of enquiry, by the respondent (FIA), against Arif Masood Naqvi. Such ignorance and silence of respondents towards this alleged crime for a considerable time period of eight years, coupled with the registration of several FIRs, tantamount to malafide intentions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The petition also stated that the party had filed an appeal against the ECP verdict in the IHC and the matter was sub-judice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bare perusal of the FIR reveals that the petitioner (Imran) is absolutely innocent and has committed no criminal offence, hence qualifying the petitioner for bail until the matter is further probed.\u201d<\/p>\n
During the hearing today, Imran\u2019s lawyer, Salman Safdar, informed the court that 10 people were nominated in the FIR. \u201cThe IHC has to determine the jurisdiction.\u201d<\/p>\n
At this, the judge asked about the charges levelled in the FIR, observing that it would come under the court\u2019s jurisdiction if the matter was related to a government employee. \u201cThis court does not jurisdiction [in a case] related to a banker.\u201d<\/p>\n
Judge Mehmood said he was granting interim bail on the \u201cIHC\u2019s directions\u201d. He also instructed Imran\u2019s counsel to convince the court regarding jurisdiction at the next date of hearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A special court in Islamabad granted former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan interim bail till Oct 31 in a case registered against him and other party leaders by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in connection with their party allegedly receiving prohibited funding. Special Judge Raja Asif Mehmood heard the petition, which was filed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288250,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[44,2833,10164],"class_list":{"0":"post-289816","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-court","9":"tag-imran-khan","10":"tag-prohibited-funding-case"},"yoast_head":"\n