ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Wednesday deferred the indictment of ex-premier Imran Khan and his spouse, Bushra Bibi, in a £190 million corruption case after his attorney told the court the jail trial had already been challenged before the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

Judge Mohammad Bashir, who who is overseeing three accountability courts of Islam­abad as the presiding officer, arrived at Adiala Jail at about 11am as he was scheduled to indict them. However, he resumed the proceedings some two and a half hours later only after the arrival of PTI’s legal team.

The counsel for Mr Khan, Shoaib Shaheen, apprised the court that he had challenged the jail trial notification, and a single-member bench referred the petition to the chief justice for the constitution of a two-member bench. He expressed hope that the court may pass an appropriate order in the case and requested for a short adjournment.

Subsequently, the judge deferred the indictment till Jan 19.

Witnesses cross-examined

In the Toshakhana case, the counsel for Mr Khan concluded cross-examination of two prosecution witnesses, who earlier testified that the worth of gifts the ex-PM took was $20m.

During the cross-examination, Mr Khan approached the rostrum and asked the judge he wanted to see the witness who evaluated their worth in millions and said this was a record evaluation of any gift of Toshakhana.

Petitions referred to CJ

On the other hand, Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb of the Islamabad High Court referred to the chief justice Mr Khan’s petitions seeking to set aside the jail trial notification in both Toshakhana and £190m corruption cases.

Justice Aurangzeb noted that since the matter pertaining to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was the domain of two-member bench, the single bench could not hear the same.

Also, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri referred to the chief justice a petition seeking to quash the complaint against Mr Khan’s marriage during the Iddat period of Bushra Bibi.

Justice Jahangiri, who was hearing the petition of Bushra Bibi, was earlier told that PTI’s lawyer Sher Afzal Khan Marwat had already filed a plea to quash the same complaint and the matter was pending before the chief justice.Justice Jahangiri then referred the instant petition to the chief justice.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2024