NAB summons Imran in £190m NCA case tomorrow

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) summoned former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan for investigation in a £190 million NCA scam on Thursday.

A joint investigation team from the NAB Rawalpindi will grill the PTI chief.

According to sources, a questionnaire has also been sent to Imran.

The NAB arrested Imran in the NCA scam on May 9 from the Islamabad High Court premises.

According to sources, the case is actually against Imran Khan and other public office-holders for abuse of power, illegal acquisition of financial benefits and criminal violation in the recovery of crime money received from the UK’s National Crime Agency.

Sources said the illegal acquisition of land for Al-Qadir University and other financial benefits received by the accused were also part of the investigation.

NAB sources said Imran Khan and former SAPM Shehzad Akbar misled their cabinet by concealing the facts/documents related to the settlement agreement.

Finally, the Election Commission of Pakistan Tuesday summoned PTI Chairman Imran Khan to appear before it in person on May 23 in a case of contempt of the commission and chief election commissioner. During the hearing of the case by the four-member ECP commission, headed by ECP member from Sindh Nisar Durrani, against Imran and other senior PTI leaders, Fawad Chaudhry and Asad Umar, the commission member from Balochistan Shah Muhammad Jatoi asked why should they not issue a bailable arrest warrant for Imran. Referring to the last chance given to the PTI Chairman at the last hearing, he asked where Imran Khan was. To this, the assistant counsel for Imran told the commission the PTI chief has to appear in the Lahore High Court today. Imran’s lawyer will appear and present arguments, the assistant counsel informed the forum to which, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa member of ECP justice (retd) Ikramullah Khan told him to contact counsel Faisal Chaudhary and inform them when he will come. Later the ECP issued summons for Imran and other PTI leaders,

PTI’s lawyer Anwar Mansoor Khan asked the commission to let the Sindh High Court hearing be completed as the objections raised by the commission are akin to those being heard in the SHC. Sindh member Nisar Durrani asked the lawyer to present arguments on the objections of Asad Umar, as the high court has not barred him from conducting proceedings. Mirza Asif Abbas, the lawyer, who represented the commission, said that the Lahore High Court had ordered the submission of the case sheet by May 23. The commission had issued contempt notices to the PTI chairman and two other party leaders last year on the basis of their speeches, remarks and interviews, wherein, they had openly spoken against the constitutional body as well as its chief election commissioner.

Separately, the chief election commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja presided over the commission meeting here, which was attended by members and senior ECP officers here. It was informed that Quetta was the only district where the local government election could not be conducted hitherto, owing to the non-determination of towns by the government. The commission was told about the order issued to secretary Local Government, Balochistan on October 23, 2022, by Balochistan High Court, to issue a notification to form towns in Quetta district under the Balochistan Local Government Act. However, the meeting was told that the necessary documents and the relevant notification required for delimitation were not provided to ECP even after five months, due to which the delimitation process and conduct of elections have not been made possible. The commission has completed the delimitation of Quetta twice, but apparently, because of the lack of interest of the provincial government, it was not possible to conduct the election.

Taking notice of the matter, the commission summoned Chief Secretary Balochistan on May 24, so that the case could be heard, ensuring delimitation and holding of election.