Tongues wag as £190m verdict deferred again

ISLAMABAD:

The accountability court staff informed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) legal team and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor on Monday that verdict in the £190 million case against former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi would now be announced on January 13.

Islamabad Accountability Court-I Judge Nasir Javed Rana had set January 6 as the date of announcement of the verdict. A PTI lawyer had said on Sunday that the court staff had not bothered to inform them whether or not the verdict would announced.

On December 18, the Accountability Court-I judge reserved his order in the 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.

The delay in the announcement of the verdict was criticised Imran Khan. His sister told reporters outside the Adiala Jail that the PTI founder had criticised the repeated deferment of the verdict, calling it a pressure tactic by the government and an attempt to keep a "sword hanging over his neck".

Aleema Khan said that that Imran wanted the verdict to be delivered so the world could understand the true nature of the case, adding that the PTI founder was committed to fighting the charges through the legal means.

Later, PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas expressed surprise at the accountability court's sudden postponement of the verdict. He lamented that the government was exploiting the court system to deliberately delay the decision, thereby unjustly prolonging the detention of the PTI founder despite lacking any valid grounds for his imprisonment.

Waqas stated that similar to the Iddat case, the Al-Qadir case lacked merit and substance, adding that if the details of this case were exposed, it would not only embarrass Pakistan's judicial system globally but would undermine its credibility as well.

His views were endorsed by PTI Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan, asserting that the PTI founder had not gained any personal benefits. "Witnesses have testified in the court that there was no direct involvement of the PTI founder. We are optimistic about his and Bibi's acquittal," he added.