ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former premier Imran Khan on Thursday did not appear before National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in £190 million National Crime Agency (NCA) scam [Al-Qadir Trust case] and he told the bureau that he is on bail till May 22, therefore, he cannot appear before it in person.
The NAB had summoned Khan in connection with an investigation related to £190 million settlement from the UK commonly known as the Al-Qadir Trust case for recording his statement.
In a five-page written response submitted to the anti-graft body, the PTI chief informed the corruption watchdog that he was in Lahore and has been seeking bail in multiple cases on the orders of IHC till May 22, therefore, cannot appear before the NAB in person.
The PTI chief said the NAB call-up notice is “illegal” and as per the record no “corrupt practices” were unearthed. The motive behind turning inquiry into the investigation is to politically victimize me, Khan alleged.
“I may however, add here that all the allegations made by you in the subject call up notice are absolutely false, frivolous, and concocted, and based on a deliberate misconception of law and facts, and baseless conjectures and surmises. No case of corruption or corrupt practice is made not from the facts and circumstances existing on the record, rather the entire object of initiating the inquiry and investigation in the case is politically motivated and, to say the least, is based on facts extraneous to law,” the PTI chief told the NAB.
The former prime minister also told the NAB that he had only received one call-up notice during the entire inquiry. He also added that he had challenged the notices sent earlier by it in the same and other cases as per law.
Khan also told the anti-graft watchdog that as per laws it is bound to provide a copy of the report of inquiry immediately if it is converted into an investigation to him which it did not do so. Khan added that on May 2, he had dispatched a letter to the NAB asking for a copy of the inquiry report yet it did not hand it over to him.
He explained that due to the NAB’s failure, he had decided to approach the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to seek a copy of the report.
“Thus, on May 9, I was sitting in the biometric branch of the Islamabad High Court for getting my biometrics verified for the purpose of filing, inter alia, the said writ petition, when you manoeuvred my arrest in a manner that blatantly violated, inter alia, my fundamental right to access to justice, which is a component of my fundamental right to life, and thereby not only prevented me from getting my writ petition numbered after it had been diarised, you were also instrumental in my abduction from the High Court premises,” said the PTI chief.
He added that after his “illegal arrest” he was provided with a copy of the inquiry report. Khan further said that the inquiry report was provided to him during custody, I could not carry the said report, or for that matter, my clothes and shaving kit, with him when I attended the court proceedings before the IHC on May 12. Consequently, presently I do not have the copy of the said inquiry report with me.
Therefore, before serving me call-up notice, a copy of the said inquiry report along with my clothes and shaving kit that have been left behind in the room where I stayed in police lines may be immediately forwarded to me at my Zaman park.
About the documents including an application of NCA filed before the Court of Westminster Magistrate’s court, UK, proceedings which place in the UK between the NCA and respondents, the proceedings between NCA and respondents in the UK demanded by NAB from Khan, he told NAB that these documents are not under his custody.
As regards the documents pertaining to Al-Qadir University Project Endowment Fund Trust, Al-Qadir Trust demanded by the NAB, these documents should be available with the chief finance officer of the trust, as he is the custodian of these documents.
In this regard, I have contacted him and he informs me that he has already provided you the bulk of the documents mentioned in the call-up notice.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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