ISLAMABAD: An accountability court deferred on Tuesday the indictment of former premier Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi in the £190 million corruption reference as the newly appointed judge, Nasir Javed Rana, has yet to take charge.
Judge Rana was scheduled to hold his first hearing of the case today at Adiala jail.
The indictment of Imran and Bushra has been deferred multiple times without any proceedings, due to Judge Muhammad Bashir’s unavailability.
The Ministry of Law and Justice appointed a district and sessions judge, Nasir Javed Rana, as the new judge at Islamabad Accountability Court-I. The accountability court’s incumbent judge, Muhammad Bashir, is set to retire on March 14.
On January 20, Judge Bashir applied for medical leave until his retirement.
In the letter sent to the IHC and the Ministry of Law and Justice, the judge stated that due to his deteriorating health, he could not perform his duties.
However, the ministry did not approve his request. After his request was denied, the judge withdrew his application on January 27, stating that he was now well and able to perform his duties.
On January 28, Judge Bashir sentenced former prime minister Imran and his spouse, Bushra, to 14 years in prison for misusing the state’s gift repository during the former’s term as PM. On February 3, the judge once again applied for leave until his retirement on medical grounds.
Judge Bashir was adjudicating a number of high-profile cases, including the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) references filed against former Imran Khan and his wife for their alleged involvement in a £190m scandal.
The case
Former prime minister Imran Khan is a primary accused in the case and co-accused are former accountability czar Shahzad Akbar, former aide to premier Zulfiqar Bukhari, Zia Mustafa and Farah Shazadi aka Farah Gogi.
The reference, filed by NAB, accused the PTI chief and Akbar of collusion. It said that Akbar produced a misleading note on Dec 2, 2019, to show the account of the Supreme Court Registrar as the account of the state of Pakistan. It said that the PTI chairman, who was the prime minister at the time, was aware of the whole plan, as he had taken 458-kanal of land in 2019 that was transferred in the name of Zulfi Bukhari.
It added that when the land was given, the Al-Qadir Trust did not exist. In the reference, NAB had requested that the accused be tried and punished.
