The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has granted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan protective bail until October 18 in the prohibited funding case registered against him and other party leaders by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
The protective bail was issued against surety bonds worth Rs5,000, and will be valid until October 18. The FIA had alleged that Imran and other PTI leaders had submitted false affidavits to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah had summoned Imran Khan halfway through today’s hearing of the protective bail plea filed by him. The party chief had sought protective bail after the FIA had registered an FIR against him and other PTI leaders on October 6. United Bank Limited (UBL) was also mentioned in the FIR for failing to report ‘suspicious’ transactions to the authorities.
According to the FIR, PTI had submitted an affidavit of [Abraaj founder] Arif Masood Naqvi before the ECP which had stated that the amounts collected in the accounts of WCL (Wootton Cricket Limited) were submitted into PTI’s account in Pakistan.
“The affidavit has been proved to be false/forged as two more transactions were also made from WCL to two different accounts in Pakistan in May 2013,” the FIR further read.
After this, the former prime minister submitted a plea for protective bail, stating that “relief was needed so he could surrender and approach the competent court having [the] jurisdiction to entertain [his] bail petition”.
