Islamabad, Sept 8: Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan has moved an utility in an accountability court docket looking for his acquittal in a 190 million kilos corruption case on the grounds of the amended anti-graft legal guidelines, which he had severely criticised earlier, a media report stated on Sunday.
The 71-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder, who has been in jail since August final yr, had challenged the amendments to the Nationwide Accountability Bureau (NAB) legal guidelines which had been launched by the then Pakistan Democratic Motion (PDM) authorities led by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in 2022, The Daybreak newspaper reported.
The NAB amendments had been later put aside by a Supreme Courtroom bench on September 15 final yr. Nevertheless, on Friday these amendments had been restored by an apex court docket bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa in response to a assessment petition by the federal government.
The amendments made a number of modifications to the NAB legal guidelines, together with decreasing the time period of the NAB chairman and prosecutor normal to a few years, limiting the bureau’s jurisdiction to circumstances involving over Pakistani Rs 500 million and transferring all pending inquiries, investigations, and trials to the related authorities.
The previous cricketer-turned-politician’s authorized staff on Saturday stated of their utility that the amended legislation protected the selections taken by the Federal Cupboard.
The appliance additional contended that the NAB had initiated proceedings in opposition to their shopper in addition to different accused individuals on the behest of political rivals.
It stated that the NAB regardless of being conscious that the case doesn’t fall throughout the ambit of the Nationwide Accountability Ordinance, 1999, exceeded its jurisdiction and filed a false and frivolous reference. The NAB alleged that because the prime minister of Pakistan, Khan chaired a cupboard assembly held on December 3, 2019, throughout which a deed of confidentiality was accepted.
The appliance additional acknowledged that the bureau accused Khan of misusing his authority for the stated approval and in return obtained roughly 458 kanal land in tehsil Sohawa, Pakistani Rs 285 million and different advantages underneath the guise of donations for the Al-Qadir College Venture Belief.
The NAB alleged that the applicant (Khan) and his partner, by means of their affiliate, obtained 240 kanal of land from a co-accused as compensation for private acquire.
Khan’s authorized staff stated that the NAB filed the reference earlier than the accountability court docket which framed the cost on February 27 this yr in opposition to the applicant and his partner underneath 9 totally different counts.
Citing the modification within the Nationwide Accountability Ordinance (NAO) throughout 2022, the attorneys claimed that the amended legislation protected the selections taken within the cupboard assembly.
The PTI chief’s counsel Usman Riaz Gill stated the choice to take advantage of the amended NAO had been taken by the authorized staff.
Speaking to the media following the continuing within the accountability court docket, Khan stated the NAB amendments had been contradictory to the Structure.
He stated it had by no means occurred in any parliament internationally {that a} legislation was accepted to pardon plunder.
The previous prime minister claimed that through the PTI authorities, the NAB was working underneath the command of then-army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa. Now, he alleged, the incumbent chief of military employees was controlling the bureau. (PTI)