FIA requests Supreme Court to close the Asghar Khan case

Submitting a report to the Supreme Court (SC), the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) requested the top court on Saturday to close the Asghar Khan case.

In its report, the FIA told the court during the hearing that there was not sufficient evidence to continue the case. The FIA said that the witnesses had also changed their statements during investigation, local media reported.

The FIA further said that no record of bank transactions could be found. Therefore, it asked the top court to close the Asghar Khan case.

During the last hearings, the SC had summoned 30 people for their involvement in the case. These included political figures like Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leader Javed Hashmi, deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,  Jam Mashooq, Ajmal Khan, Afaq Ahmed, Siraj ul Haq, Khursheed Shah, Ghulam Mustafa Khar and others.

Back in 1996, former Air Chief Air Marshal Asghar Khan filed a petition in the apex  court against former Army Chief (retd) General Mirza Aslam Beg and ex-Inter Service Intelligence Chief Lt-General (retd) Asad Durrani. This year in January, Khan, passed away after which he was represented in the top court by lawyer Salman Akram Raja.

In the petition, Khan alleged that Beg and Durrani, along with the then President of Pakistan Ghulam Ishaq Khan, distributed Rs140 million among several politicians ahead of the 1990 elections to pre-rig the polls and ensure Benazir Bhutto’s defeat in it.

The amount was allegedly provided by Younas Habib, who at that time was the chief executive officer of Habib Bank Limited, which used to be a government bank. Among the many names of the politicians included Sharif’s, who was accused of receiving Rs3.5 million.