Imran secures interim bail in prohibited funding case

Court grants interim bail till Oct 31

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan was granted interim bail on Monday in the prohibited funding case by a court in Islamabad.

The former premier appeared before a special judge of the central court where he had filed a bail plea in a case registered under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.

The court ordered the PTI chief to submit a surety bond of Rs100,000 and granted interim bail till October 31. 

The petition stated that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) ​​had misused its authority to register the case in haste and that the case was registered on the basis of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) report which is contrary to facts and biased.

It also stated that the ECP report has been challenged in the high court.

According to the plea, political opponents have an agenda behind filing the case against the PTI chairman and the FIA has registered a case which is 'malicious'. 

The petition further sought pre-arrest bail in the case registered by the FIA and prayed that an interim bail should be granted till confirmation of the pre-arrest bail.

It is pertinent to note that the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had approved Imran's protective bail till October 18 (tomorrow).

According to the high court's orders, the PTI chairman was granted bail for a surety bond of Rs5,000 and the IHC had also barred the investigation agency from arresting Imran.

The case

The FIA had booked PTI leaders including party chairman Imran Khan, the party’s financial team and a manager of a private bank in the prohibited funding case.

The case was lodged by FIA Commercial Banking Circle Islamabad.

Read: PTI approaches IHC against ECP's prohibited funding case verdict

According to a first information report (FIR), the former ruling party leaders have violated the Foreign Exchange Act and they were declared as the beneficiaries of suspicious bank accounts.

The FIA claimed that Abraaj Group also transferred $2.1 million to the bank accounts of the PTI.

The FIA kicked off its probe against the PTI in August this year after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had declared in its verdict that the party had indeed received illegal funding.

The case had been filed by PTI's founding but disgruntled member Akbar S Babar and had been pending since November 14, 2014.

The written order of the ECP stated that the political party had received illegal funds from foreign countries including the US, UAE, UK and Australia.