The Islamabad High Court approved on Wednesday the protective bail application filed by the former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan in the prohibited funding case.
PTI chief’s application came a day after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) registered a case against Imran Khan and 10 other PTI members under the Foreign Exchange Act.
Imran Khan fears that he might be arrested and approached the high court for his protective bail.
In his bail plea, Imran Khan said that he will suffer irreparable loss if he will be arrested for an offense that he had not committed. Furthermore, Imran maintained that he was a renowned politician and head of the largest political party, therefore, there was no apprehension of the petitioner absconding or tampering with the prosecution evidence.
It said the petitioner was a law-abiding citizen of Pakistan and had never been involved in any criminal case before and was fully aware of the consequences of breach of bail conditions.
However, in light of the above-mentioned facts and circumstances court should provide protective bail to Imran Khan, the bail plea maintained.
The court heard the plea and asked the PTI chief to appear before the court in 30 minutes.
Later, the PTI chief appeared before the court and requested the court to approve his protective bail.
During the proceeding, the court remarked the special court should conduct the hearing of the FIA’s case. To this, the additional attorney general replied that It was surprising why the court concerned did not conduct any hearing of the case.
Afterward, the court granted protective bail for Imran Khan as it adjourned the case.
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Reiterating the direction for Imran to appear before the court concerned on October 18, the IHC accepted directed the police not to arrest the former prime minister.
Prohibited funding case:
In August, a three-member bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) declared that the PTI received funding from prohibited sources including foreign nationals and companies in sheer violation of the Constitution and laws. The electoral body named at least 35 non-Pakistani nationals many with Indian origin names and over 350 companies that provided funds to the PTI by 2014.
Following the verdict by the ECP, the FIA launched a probe into the prohibited funding case and formed five inquiry teams.
The teams will carry out investigations in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Islamabad, and Quetta, Private TV reported.
FIA officials say the investigators will seek records from the State Bank of Pakistan, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and other financial institutions.