The legal difficulties of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan have grown as an accountability court sentenced the former prime minister and his wife Bushra Bibi to 14 years in prison with harsh penalty in the Toshakhana case.
The conviction was issued by Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir, who also disqualified the former prime minister for ten years and fined the couple Rs1.573 billion (787 million each).
During the previous hearing, which was also conducted at Adiala jail, the court took Bushra Bibi’s statement under Section 342.
Khan informed the court that his wife had nothing to do with the case and was embarrassed by being coerced into it.
Judge Bashir began today’s session by asking Khan if he had taped his statement. To this, the former premier said that he would submit his statement whenever his lawyers arrived.
“I was deceived because I was only called to mark my attendance at the hearing,” stated the PTI founder.
On the other side, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ruled that Khan’s jail trial in Toshakhana and the £190 million settlement cases were properly notified.
The court also dismissed the PTI founder’s pleas against the jail trial in proceedings brought by the National Accountability Bureau.
Apparently, the jail trial was held in light of the petitioner’s life threats, but there was no “malice” involved.
IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Jahangiri issued a thorough ruling, rejecting the petitioner’s objections to the nomination of the accountability judge.
