Imran threatens IO, NAB chief with legal action

RAWALPINDI: Incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan on Friday threatened the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman and investigation officer (IO) with legal action.

“My spouse (Bushra Bibi) is facing imprisonment due to cases concocted by you,” the deposed prime minister told NAB IO Mohsin Haroon while pointing a finger at him during a hearing of a new Toshakhana reference filed against the detained couple.

On September 2, an accountability court in Rawalpindi extended the judicial remand of the PTI founder and his wife in a new Toshakhana reference. The new reference pertains to a case related to a jewellery set gifted to Bushra by the Saudi crown prince when Imran was the prime minister of the country from 2018 to 2022.

During the exchange of words, Imran — who was ousted from the prime minister’s office via a no-confidence motion in 2022 — told Haroon that he would not spare them when he is out of jail. “I will take you both (IO and NAB chairman) to court (over fabricated cases),” the PTI founder added.

Notably, the anti-graft bureau’s investigation officer had informed the media about threats made by the former premier at least four times. This is not the first time Imran Khan has hurled threats at public officials with the most prominent being the case of Judge Zeba Chaudhry. Just months after his ouster in April 2022, the PTI founder gave a fiery speech directed towards Islamabad’s top police officials and judge Chaudhry threatening not to “spare” them and file cases against them for “torturing” his party leader Shahbaz Gill.

Meanwhile, the NAB prosecution team sought adjournment of the hearing citing the absence of prosecutor Umar Majeed. “[The] Supreme Court has given a verdict on NAB amendments case, and we have to review it,” they added.

Subsequently, the accountability court adjourned the hearing till September 9 at the prosecution team’s request.

Speaking to journalists after the hearing, Khan — without giving names — claimed that “some individuals” were plotting within the party against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur. He asked the party members not to “undermine Gandapur as I stand by him”, saying that this was not the time for differences.

“Those plotting against Ali Amin Gandapur should not complain me of not getting [election] tickets in future,” the PTI founder added.

The former first lady was first arrested in January this year and kept under house arrest at her residence in Bani Gala after she along with Khan were convicted in the infamous Toshakhana case related to the illegal sale of state gifts.

The duo’s sentence in the reference was suspended by the IHC in April.

Later, she was shifted to Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail in May after the IHC approved her plea challenging the house arrest. In July, Khan and Bushra were acquitted by a district and sessions court in the iddat case.

However, Bushra remains behind bars in other cases including the £190m NCA scandal and a fresh Tohshakhana reference pertaining to a jewellery set gifted by the Saudi crown prince.

Meanwhile, Judge Nasir Javed Rana of the Special Accountability Court of Islamabad adjourned the post-arrest bail application of Imran Khan and his wife in a new reference related to the acquisition of expensive jewelery from Toshakhana until September 9.

During the hearing in Adiala Jail, the two accused were accompanied by their lawyers, Barrister Sulaiman Safdar and Naeem Panjutha, while NAB Deputy Director of Investigation, Mohsin Haroon, Barrister Shahroz Gilani and Sohail Arif were present in the court. However, the court adjourned the hearing until September 9 due to the absence of the NAB prosecutor.