ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC), Wednesday, granted bail to Bushra Bibi, the wife of former prime minister Imran Khan, in Toshakhana II case.
A single bench of Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the petition moved by Bushra Bibi seeking post-arrest bail in Toshakhana case.
In his short order, Justice Miangul Hassan said, “The instant petition is accepted and the petitioner is admitted to post arrest bail subject to her furnishing bail bonds in the sum of Rs10,00,000/- with two sureties in the like amount to the satisfaction of the learned trial Court.”
During the hearing, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) prosecutor, Umair Majeed, said the jewellery set in the said case was priced while the suspects were in possession of it. However, he added, the market value of a jewellery item could not be determined until it was physically available.
He added that the state was not given an opportunity to estimate the price of jewellery set correctly. The FIA prosecutor said the said item should be placed in an auction and should be priced accordingly.
The prosecutor further stressed that “a gift remains the property of the state until legally purchased and maintained that as per the procedure, a gift can be bought four months after its price has been assessed.” He added that a state gift cannot be kept by a person without being bought first. In response to Justice Aurangzeb’s question about what would happen if the Bvlgari (Bulgari) set was returned, the FIA prosecutor said, “There is a plea bargain in the NAB law, but there is no such provision in that law.”
The judge remarked that an accurate estimate of the price of a Toshakhana gift can only be assessed via an auction. However, he questioned that why the PTI founder was made a suspect in the case if it was his wife who did not deposit the jewellery set in the Toshakhana.
To this, the FIA prosecutor contended that Khan was a public office holder. The judge remarked that this is a similar case to that of the Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa. Majeed replied that this case is slightly different from that. After hearing the arguments, the court granted bail to the former first lady who has been incarcerated in the said case in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi approached the IHC for post-arrest bail in Toshakhana-II case after a trial court rejected her bail petition. It was contended that the petitioner was a house wife and the allegations against her were baseless.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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