Imran Khan, the Chairman of PTI, currently incarcerated in Adiala Jail on the cipher case, faces additional arrest by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the Al-Qadir Trust case and Toshakhana reference.
The accountability watchdog detained the former Prime Minister on Monday, following the ratification of arrest warrants by Accountability Court Judge Mohammad Bashir, who directed the Adiala Jail superintendent to execute them.
During the hearing, the judge inquired about the status of Mr. Khan’s pleas to revive bail petitions in the two cases. NAB’s Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi informed the court that the pleas were pending in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), with no restraining order issued so far.
Judge Bashir then sought information about the further legal course, to which the NAB prosecutor clarified that, according to the law, the accused must be produced before the court within 24 hours of arrest. He noted that arrest warrants for under-custody suspects had been issued in the past, and the court might order Adiala Jail SP Jail to execute the warrants.
Regarding the Special Court (Official Secrets Act), Mr. Abbasi mentioned the judge’s approval.
The prosecution requested Mr. Khan’s custody to conclude the investigation in both cases, and the accountability judge granted NAB permission to arrest and investigate the PTI chief.
In the Toshakhana case, NAB alleges that Mr. Khan misused his authority as Prime Minister by retaining state gifts. He was earlier sentenced to three years in a separate Toshakhana case by an Islamabad trial court in August. However, the IHC later set aside the sentence and ordered his release, although he remained in custody due to the ongoing trial in the cipher case.
In the Al-Qadir Trust case, Imran Khan and his wife are accused of receiving substantial funds and land from Malik Riaz, the owner of Bahria Town, for legalizing Rs50 billion returned to Pakistan by the UK’s National Crime Agency. The funds were meant to be deposited in the national exchequer but were credited to the Supreme Court’s account against the Rs450 billion penalty imposed on Bahria Town for illegal land acquisition in Karachi.
On May 9, NAB previously arrested Imran Khan in the Al-Qadir Trust case, leading to widespread protests by his supporters, resulting in damage to public and private properties.