Islamabad High Court on Wednesday granted protective bail to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chief Imran Khan in the prohibited funding case.
The bail was approved against the surety bonds worth Rs 5,000 till 18th October. The Federal Investigation Agency registered the case against Imran Khan and his party members for allegedly submitting false affidavits to the Election Commission of Pakistan in connection with a prohibited funding case against his party.
Imran Khan sought bail on 6th October after the FIA’s Commerical Bank Circle in Islamabad registered a FIR against his party. The FIR stated: “[The] PTI submitted an affidavit of [Abraaj founder], Arif Masood Naqvi, before the Election Commission of Pakistan stating therein that all the amounts collected in the accounts of WCL (Wootton Cricket Limited) were submitted into PTI’s account in Pakistan…[the] affidavit has been proved to be false/forged as two more transactions were also made from WCL to two different accounts in Pakistan in May 2013.”
It also mentioned the United Bank Limited (UBL) for its failure to report suspicious transactions to the authorities concerned.
Subsequently, Imran filed a plea for protective bail, contending that relief was needed so that he could “surrender and approach the competent court having [the] jurisdiction to entertain [his] bail petition.”
During the hearing, Imran’s lawyer, Salman Safdar, told the court that two other people booked in the same case by the FIA earlier approached a court for bail. However, the female additional session judge had recused herself from hearing both cases, he added.
The Pakistan probe agency filed the FIR under sections 420, 468, 471, 477-A, and 109 along with sections 5 and 23 of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1947. Apart from Imran Khan, Sardar Azhar Tariq, Tariq Shafi, and Younis Aamir Kiani have also been named in the FIR.
According to the FIR, the probe agency alleged that Abraaj Group, a capital market company, had transferred USD 2100,000 to the PTI account in the branch of a bank situated at Jinnah Avenue in Islamabad.
It is pertinent to mention that Abraaj Group is currently in liquidation due to accusations of fraud.
In addition, the party received more financing from two bank accounts of Wotan Cricket Club, read the FIR. The probe agency said that the manager of the private bank also helped FIA in investigating the questionable transactions.