£190m case verdict may be deferred again

RAWALPINDI:

An accountability court in Islamabad is scheduled to unveil its verdict today in the £190m case in which former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi are among the key accused.

However, there is much speculation as to whether the court will actually deliver the verdict today given the fact that all 160 district and sessions judges across Punjab and the federal capital — including the judges of all special courts—are supposed to attend a one-day training at the Lahore Judicial Academy on January 6 — today.

Islamabad Accountability Court-I Judge Nasir Javed Rana on December 18 reserved his order in the £190m case while announcing that the decision would be unveiled on December 23. However, on December 23, the court postponed announcement of the verdict till January 6.

Interestingly, in the meanwhile, the PML-N led federal government and the PTI finally sat across the table from each other to hash out a solution to an ongoing political turmoil.

Talking with reference to the possible deferment of the case judgement, Advocate Khalid Yousaf Chaudhry, a member of the PTI legal team, stated that the court had initially set January 6 as the date for the verdict in the £190 million reference case.

"However, we have not yet been informed of any change in the decision date. We contacted the court staff, but they too have not provided any information about the change in date."

He said they saw reports on social media suggesting that the decision date might have been altered, possibly to 10 or 12 days later. "This raises significant questions about our judiciary and legal system, as the accused have not been officially informed of any updates."

He said whether the decision is announced today or postponed, the legal team representing the PTI founder and Bushra will visit Adiala Jail, where the accountability court holds proceedings of the case.

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) which was going to resume hearing of the GHQ attack case today has also deferred the hearing till Wednesday, January 8. Imran Khan is among the dozens of PTI leaders and workers nominated as accused in the case.