Imran gets relief by courts in Al-Qadir Trust case

ISLAMABAD:

An accountability court in the federal capital and the Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan bail in the Al-Qadir Trust case on Wednesday.

The IHC extended the former premier's protective bail for three days, while the accountability court granted Imran interim bail till June 19 against surety bonds of Rs500,000.

IHC extends bail

Justice Mohsin Gul Hasan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rifat Imtiaz presided over the hearing of the case in the high court, wherein Imran's counsel Khawaja Haris appeared in the court as well as National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor Muazaffar Abbassi.

At the outset of the hearing, the PTI chief's lawyer maintained that "this matter of bail will ultimately go to the accountability court because this court cannot decide this case on merit."

He added that Imran's cases are scheduled in Islamabad on June 8, requesting the court to grant bail till then.

The NAB prosecutor then made his remarks and said that the PTI chief can file a bail application in an accountability court today or tomorrow.

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Subsequently, the court granted Imran a three-day protective bail.

It also directed the PTI chairman to approach an accountability court in three days, adding that if he fails to do so, the bail will become ineffective on June 5 (Monday).

Court approves bail till June 19

Shortly after the IHC granted Imran bail, directing him to approach an accountability court, the ousted prime minister appeared before Judge Muhammad Bashir's anti-graft court in the judicial complex.

During the hearing, Judge Bashir inquired about the high court's decision. To this, Imran's counsel replied that the court directed to approach the concerned court within three days.

Subsequently, the accountability court also approved the interim bail of the ex-PM in the Al-Qadir Trust case against surety bonds of Rs0.5 million.

Imran gets relief in other cases

In a separate development, the IHC also heard Imran’s plea to prevent his arrest in cases registered after May 9.

During the hearing, Imran’s Advocate Barrister Gohar requested the provision of details of all the cases. Following this, the Islamabad Police informed the court that four cases were registered against Imran after May 9.

In his remarks, Justice Hassan said that “Our order was that during the time Imran was in custody, he should not be arrested in the cases that were registered against him.”

To this, Advocate Gohar stated that he will now file a fresh application for protective bail.

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Subsequently, the IHC ordered a 10-day extension in Imran's bail. The court granted the deposed premier bail in six cases filed against him after May 9, directing authorities not to arrest him during this time.

Separately, the IHC also approved a 10-day protective bail in the solidarity with judiciary rally case, directing Imran to approach the concerned court during this time.

'No choice but elections'

During an informal conversation with the media in the courtroom, when asked if Imran was in contact with President Arif Alvi, he said that "it is not true that he has no contact with Alvi".

He maintained that at this time, there is no choice except to hold elections. “Government and establishment are the same thing, the latter is running the former,” he added.

The deposed premier also said that he began negotiations with the ruling coalition on the direction of the chief justice.

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On the exodus of members from the party, Imran said that “This is an attempt to blackmail”. He also stated that there is no public rally or meeting planned yet.

Earlier in the day, the former prime minister received permission to bring his vehicle inside the judicial complex premises for the hearing of the Al-Qadir Trust case.

He was, however, denied permission to bring the vehicle inside the IHC premises. Tight security was put in place at the high court premises ahead of Imran's appearance.

The Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) police said that no political activity was allowed in the Red Zone of the capital.

On May 18, Imran opted out of appearing before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the Al-Qadir Trust probe.

In a call-up notice sent to the PTI chief on Thursday, NAB referred to an order of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) which while granting Imran bail in the case on May 12 asked him to cooperate with NAB in its investigation into the scandal.

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While executing the arrest warrant issued by the anti-graft body, paramilitary Rangers on May 9 had arrested Imran Khan from the IHC premises leading to widespread protests and incidents of vandalism and arson.

The PTI had approached the apex court against the arrest and a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court on May 11 had declared the arrest illegal while allowing the deposed premier an opportunity to seek bail from the IHC in a number of cases including the NAB case.