ISLAMABAD: An Accountability Court, on Tuesday, extended the interim bail of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former premier Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi till September 26 in the £190 million National Crime Agency (NCA) scam commonly known as the Al-Qadir Trust case.
Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir, while hearing the cases, extended Khan’s wife’s bail till September 26 against surety bonds of Rs100,000. Bushra Bibi’s counsel Sardar Latif Khosa, during the hearing, said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB)’s prosecutor stated before the court the bureau did not require Bushra Bibi’s arrest.
Khosa further said “today, the meeting of his client with her husband was scheduled at Attock Jail and the NAB has also summoned her in the Al-Qadir Trust case. The NAB needs to change the date of appearance before the Combined Investigation Team (CIT), he said, adding the meeting of Bushra Bibi and her husband is scheduled at 2:00 pm at Attock Jail while the NAB has also summoned his client at 2:00 pm for recording her statement.
To this, NAB Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzzafar Abbasi told the court that the NAB has summoned Khan’s wife at 11:00 am. The court, after hearing arguments, extended the interim bail of Khan’s wife till September 26.
Meanwhile, a local court also extended interim bail of Bushra Bibi till September 26 in a case registered against her and others for allegedly submitting fake receipts for buying and selling items obtained from Toshakhana.
Additional Sessions Judge Islamabad Tahir Abbas Sipra, while hearing the case, regarding fake receipts, extended the interim bail of Bushra Bibi.
Khan’s wife appeared in the court along with lawyers, Salman Safdar, Intizar Panjotha, and Naeem Panjotha.
Kohsar police station registered a first information report (FIR) against Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi, and PTI leader Zulfi Bukhari under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) including section 420 for allegedly presenting fake receipts for buying and selling items obtained from the state’s gift repository known as Toshakhana.
During the hearing, Bushra Bibi’s counsel read out the FIR before the court. The prosecutor, Tahir Kazim, told the court that the audio of the accused had been sent to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for forensics. He said the arrest of the accused would not be required if the audio forwarded for forensics did not match with her voice.
The judge remarked that apparently, the prosecution was using delaying tactics.
When the accused joined the investigation, the investigators questioned her then at that time why those who were probing the case did not contact the FIA for audio matching.
Safdar, Bushra Bibi’s counsel told the court that according to the FIR, the case is regarding fake receipts then from where the audio comes from.
The prosecutor requested the court to direct the accused to appear before the FIA.
The court extended the interim bail of Bushra Bibi till September 26 and also directed the prosecution that this is the last chance of voice matching, if you wanted to do voice-matching, do it.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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