Gifts case transferred to regular court

Islamabad Accountability Court-II has transferred the new Toshakhana reference against former prime minister Imran Khan and his spouse, Bushra Bibi, to Islamabad special judge central in view of the Supreme Court verdict on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) law amendments case.

When the accountability court judge, Muhammad Ali Warraich, on Monday resumed hearing the reference in a courtroom inside Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail, NAB prosecutor informed him that after the Supreme Court September 6 ruling the case had ceased to fall under the graft buster's jurisdiction.

He requested the court to transfer the case to the relevant court.

The lawyers representing the PTI founder and Bushra also argued that while the accountability court should transfer the reference, their clients should be granted post-arrest bail.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the court adjourned for over three hours. When the session resumed, the court issued a two-page decision, stating that, following the restoration of NAB amendments, the reference no longer falls under NAB's jurisdiction.

It ordered that the reference be transferred to the Islamabad special judge central and directed that the hearing be held tomorrow (Tuesday). The court said if it can no longer hear the reference, it also cannot grant bail, meaning the post-arrest bail applications will also be heard by the special judge central.

According to the written order, under the NAB amendments, cases involving amounts less than Rs500 million do not fall within NAB's jurisdiction.

Since the value of the assets in question in the new Toshakhana reference is below Rs500 million, the case does not come under the jurisdiction of the accountability court, it added.

The Supreme Court on September 6 restored changes to the country's anti-graft laws, accepting the federal government's appeal against the court's Sept 15, 2023 verdict.

Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJ) Qazi Faez Isa pronounced the verdict reserved by a five-member bench on June 6 after hearing intra-court appeals (ICAs) filed by the federal government and other parties.

On September 15, 2023, then-CJP Umar Ata Bandial and Justice Ijazul Ahsan had accepted Imran Khan's 2022 petition while Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah dissented from the 2-1 verdict. Imran had challenged the changes introduced by the PML-N led coalition government in the NAB law.

The amendments made several changes to the NAB laws, including reducing the term of the NAB chairman and prosecutor general to three years, limiting NAB's jurisdiction to cases involving over Rs500 million, and transferring all pending inquiries, investigations, and trials to the relevant authorities.