Appeals of IK, Bushra: IHC issues notice to NAB
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued notices to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi's appeals seeking suspension of their sentence in £190 million case.
A two-member bench, comprising Acting Chief Justice Sardar Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif, on Thursday, heard the case.
During the hearing, Salman Akram Raja, Latif Khosa and Niazullah Niazi appeared before the court while Imran's sisters and party leadership were also present.
Khosa and other PTI lawyers requested the court that the matter be scheduled for hearing on next Wednesday. Accepting the request, the court sought replies from NAB and other respondents and directed that the appeals be listed for hearing in the next week.
Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi have approached the IHC seeking suspension of their sentences in 190 million pound case.
The petitioners were convicted by the Accountability Court (I) Islamabad vide judgment dated 17.01.2025, wherein, they were held guilty for commission of offence of corruption and corrupt practices as defined u/s 9 (a) (ii) (iv) (vi) of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 and Imran was sentenced u/s 10(a) of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 to undergo rigorous imprisonment (RI) for 14 years and fine amounting to Rs1,000,000.
The petitioners have sought indulgence of this court for 'Suspension' of conviction and sentence awarded to them, till the final disposal of the main appeal already filed in the IHC.
Barrister Salman Safdar, who had filed the petition on behalf of Imran Khan, contended that his client is quite aggrieved and frustrated with the malicious campaign of political victimisation the sole agenda of which is to keep him behind the bars for an indefinite period.
He added that the allegations levelled against the petitioner does not find any support from the evidence produced during the trial in support of the baseless and frivolous accusations; therefore, petitioners craved for the kind indulgence of this court for grant of 'Suspension of Sentence'.
Safdar stated that petitioner Imran is a 72 years old, former prime minister who has been awarded sentence solely to keep him away from political the arena and post-arrest bail of petitioner was confirmed by the divisional bench of IHC on 14.05.2024 by taking into account the frivolous nature of allegations.
He also said that the post-arrest bail of Imran was confirmed by this court by acknowledging that legal framework agreement documenting the transaction between Malik Riaz family and NCA, UK, is absent from the record while provisions of Section 426(1) are analogous to those of Section 497 CrPC 1898.
The counsel contended that the NAB Reference No 19/ 2023 is an outcome of relentless and never-ending wave of political victimisation launched at the behest of political adversaries and the Al-Qadir Trust Case and the subsequent conviction and sentence is the 3rd attempt by the NAB authorities to implicate the petitioners in a frivolous and baseless case initiated as a result of a well-orchestrated scheme.
He argued that the prosecution has miserably failed to establish any monetary gain on behalf of petitioners and no funds or money was ever transferred to personal account of the petitioner. He prayed that conviction and sentence awarded by the trial court vide impugned judgment dated 17.01.2025 may kindly be suspended and petitioners may kindly be released till the final disposal of Criminal Appeal No 63 of 2025.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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