£190m case: IHC bars trial court from issuing final verdict on Imran’s petition

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday stopped the accountability court from issuing the final verdict in the £190 million settlement case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi.

A two-member bench of the high court comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the couple’s acquittal plea in the said case.

The PTI founder on September 7 had filed a plea seeking acquittal in the £190 million case after the Supreme Court’s verdict in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) amendments case wherein the court accepted the intra-court appeals filed against last year’s verdict which struck down the changes made to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO).

The former premier and the ex-first lady also approached the IHC against the accountability court’s ruling, seeking acquittal and pleading with the court to stop the trial court’s proceedings until the case remains pending in the high court.

After hearing arguments, the IHC ordered the trial court to complete proceedings but it should not issue the final judgment. The IHC bench also directed Khan and Bushra’s lawyers to submit relevant documents. It also issued notices to the respondents over the couple’s acquittal pleas and adjourned the hearing till September 26. It is noteworthy to mention here that the accountability court had rejected the PTI founder and his wife’s acquittal pleas in the NCA scandal case.