Pak anti-corruption body granted four more days to interrogate jailed ex-PM Imran Khan in graft case

Islamabad, Nov 24 (PTI) A Pakistani accountability court has granted four more days to the anti-graft body to interrogate jailed former prime minister Imran Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case, a media report said on Friday.

Khan, 71, has been incarcerated in the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi since September 26 in various cases. Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir conducted the in-prison hearing in the high-security jail on Thursday, The Express Tribune newspaper reported.

Judge Bashir ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to investigate the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chief inside the high-security jail and said he would not be shifted anywhere.

The judge also directed the NAB investigation team and the prosecution to complete the investigation by the next date of hearing on November 27, the report said.

So far, the court has given 15 days to the anti-graft body to investigate the former premier in the Al-Qadir Trust graft case.

Last week, the accountability bureau was granted a four-day permission to interrogate him in the case.

The former-cricketer-turned-politician was present in the courtroom during the hearing, and his three sisters also attended the proceedings, according to the report.

The Ali-Qadir Trust case is about the settlement of 190 million pounds, about Rs 50 billion, which the UK’s National Crime Agency sent to Pakistan after recovering the amount from a Pakistani property tycoon.

Khan, being the prime minister then, instead of depositing in the national treasury, allowed the businessman to use the amount to partly settle a fine of about Rs 450 billion imposed by the Supreme Court some years ago.

Reportedly, the tycoon, in return, gifted about 57 acres of land to a trust set up by Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, to establish the Al-Qadir University in the Sohawa area of the Jhelum district of Punjab.

Khan was ousted through a vote of no-confidence in April 2022. More than 150 cases have been registered against him since his ouster from power.