Pre-arrest bail plea of advocate Awan in £190m NCA scam disposed of

ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court, on Tuesday, disposed of the pre-arrest bail petition of senior advocate and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Babar Awan in the £190 million National Crime Agency (NCA) scam commonly known as the Al-Qadir Trust case.

Accountability Court judge Muhammad Bashir, while hearing the case, disposed of Awan’s petition after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) investigation officer (IO) Umer Nadeem told the court that so far no arrest warrant had been issued for Awan.

Bawar Awan, IO Nadeem, and NAB prosecutor Sohail Arif appeared before the court. The IO said the bureau had sent three summons to Awan as a witness and he appeared before the NAB as well as submitted his reply.

The judge said that according to the NAB, it did not need the arrest of Awan. Awan said the bureau had issued a summon to him. He forwarded his written reply in response to the summon notice and informed the bureau that he had no document regarding the £190 million.

He further said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan neither received any money nor committed any corruption. “NAB should dig out how many students are currently studying at Al-Qadir Trust University,” he said.

Awan said he had recorded his statement in the NAB office, adding the NAB knew that the reply he had submitted was correct reply.

Prosecutor told the court that the bureau had summoned Awan as a witness and it had not issued an arrest warrant for him. The IO submitted his report before the court.

Awan said the NAB had received his reply as a witness. He requested the court to ask the NAB what was the evidence against him. “Show me the evidence, I will withdraw my bail application and will go with the NAB official,” he said.

The court, after hearing the arguments of both parties, disposed of Awan’s petition in the light of the IO’s report.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023