IHC grants protective bail to Imran Khan in prohibited funding case

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday approved protective bail of former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in the prohibited funding case, reported Aaj News.

The bail will expire on Monday, October 17 and it was approved against surety bonds of Rs5,000.

Imran had earlier sought bail in the case. While conducting its hearing, Chief Justice Athar Minallah inquired why the bail was needed.

Imran’s counsel told the court that the former PM was under threat of being arrested in the foreign funding case which created the need for bail. The court then summoned Imran and granted him bail.

Prohibited funding case: FIA books Imran Khan, other PTI leaders

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday filed a case against 11 people including Imran in the foreign funding case. The petition was filed by the FIA’s Corporate Banking Circle. The suspects were alleged to be violating the Foreign Exchange Act.

The FIR read that PTI had an account in a private bank and the manager of the bank has also been included in the case. The FIR mentioned that the bank account was created in the name of “Naya Pakistan”.

The complaint also named Sardar Azhar Tariq Khan, Saifullah Khan Nyazee, Syed Yunus Ali Raza, Aamer Mehmood Kiani, Tariq Rahim Sheikh, Tariq Shafi, Faisal Maqbool Shaikh, Hamid Zaman and Manzoor Ahmad Chaudhary as beneficiaries of the PTI account in question.

Last week, a city magistrate remanded a leader of PTI, Hamid Zaman in the two-day physical custody of the FIA in the prohibited funding case against the party.

Prohibited funding case: PTI denies wrongdoing in receiving donations from Pakistanis abroad

The magistrate observed that recovery of the documents mentioned by the prosecution was necessary for the completion of the investigation. Therefore, he granted a two-day physical remand of the suspect with a directive to the FIA to produce him again on October 10.

The prohibited funding case was first filed in November 2014 by Akbar S. Babar, who accused the PTI and its leadership of corruption and illegal funding of the party.

In August 2022, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced its verdict in the prohibited funding case against PTI.

A three-member bench announced the judgment. In its verdict, the ECP said that PTI did indeed receive prohibited funding and kept 13 bank accounts hidden.