A banking court in the federal capital on Thursday rejected the request of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan to be investigated at his Lahore's Zaman Park residence in the prohibited funding case and ordered him to appear before the investigating officer.
Banking Court Judge Rakhshanda Shaheen presided over the hearing of the prohibited funding case, in which Special Prosecutor Rizwan Abbasi pleaded to reject Imran’s bail plea.
The court remarked that it is the job of the investigating officer (IO) to investigate and that the court will not give any direction to the IO.
Read FIA directed to continue inquiry in prohibited funding case
The special prosecutor argued that since the Wazirabad incident, wherein the PTI chief was wounded by gunfire aimed at his open-top container truck, Imran is running political affairs but does not appear in court.
"Neither did the former premier appear in the court nor was he involved in the investigation, so his request for exemption from appearing in court should be rejected," Abbasi said.
He maintained that as far as injuries are concerned, the incident had occurred in November and since then Imran has appeared in the media but does not appear in court. "Therefore, the decision on interim bail should be withdrawn," he added.
The court then asked Imran’s lawyer as to why the PTI chief did not become a part of the investigation. To this, the former prime minister’s lawyer stated that Imran wants to be part of the investigation.
"However, there are several reasons for his non-appearance," the lawyer added and said that Imran had been injured in the attack and that the ex-PM will appear in court as soon as the doctors permit.
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The lawyer further told the court that the PTI chief has always talked about the rule of law and requested the court to grant Imran bail along with two weeks’ time for the court appearance on medical grounds.
Subsequently, Judge Shaheen extended the ousted premier’s interim bail till January 31 and rejected Imran's plea seeking an investigation at his Zaman Park residence.
The judge also ordered the PTI chief to face the IO in any case, while questioning Imran's counsel, "why shouldn't the court withdraw the decision on Imran's interim bail, if he does not appear at the next hearing?"
The case
The Federal Investigation Agency (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.
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.
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The FIA claimed that Abraaj Group also transferred $2.1 million to the bank accounts of the PTI.
The agency kicked off its probe against the PTI in August last 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.
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