Islamabad (Web Desk): An accountability court in the federal capital on Wednesday granted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former premier Imran Khan bail in £190m settlement case till June 19 against surety bonds worth Rs500,000.
The former premier arrived at the Federal Judicial Complex shortly after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) directed him to approach a relevant accountability court within three working days.
As per the Al-Qadir Trust, the PTI chief and his wife, Bushra Bibi, have been accused of obtaining billions of rupees and land worth hundreds of kanals from a real estate firm for legalising Rs50 billion that was identified and returned to the country by the UK during the previous PTI government.
Accountability Judge Muhammad Bashir presided over the hearing today. It was attended by Imran, his lawyer Khawaja Harris and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Prosecutor Sohail Arif.
At the outset of the hearing, the accountability court judge asked Khan's counsel about IHC's ruling.
The lawyer said the high court had granted his client three days to approach the accountability court to seek bail.
At this, the judge asked the lawyer whether he had filed the bail plea today.
The lawyer said as he had already prepared Khan's bail plea, he decided to submit it today. "We also have to come back here on June 17."
After hearing the arguments, the judge granted bail to the PTI chief till June 19 against surety bonds worth Rs500,000.
Earlier, an IHC division bench, comprising Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz, heard the PTI chief's bail plea in the £190 million settlement case.
Earlier, an IHC division bench, comprising Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Saman Rafat Imtiaz, extended PTI chief's binterim bail for three days and directed him to approach the relevant accountability court within the same time.
Meanwhile, the IHC also heard two more petitions filed by the PTI chief pertaining to the violation of Section 144 and a bar on Islamabad police for arresting him in any case registered after May 9.
The former premier was arrested from the premises of the IHC by Rangers on May 9, after which violent protests erupted across the country.
Khan had immediately approached the IHC for release but it had declared his arrest legal.
The former prime minister then approached the Supreme Court (SC), which on May 11, termed his arrest "illegal" and directed him to appear before the IHC the next day.
Later, the IHC had approved PTI chief's bail in the case for two weeks and stopped authorities from arresting him till May 17 in any case registered in Islamabad after May 9.
On May 17, the IHC had extended its order to prevent Imran Khan’s arrest in cases filed against him after May 9 until May 31.
