A Pakistani accountability court on Monday sent former Prime Minister Imran Khan to 14 days of judicial remand in the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case. The court had rejected the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) plea for an extension of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman’s physical remand.

The development came after an NAB team visited the former PM in the Adiala Jail, where the hearing took place, and interrogated him for around two hours in connection with the corruption case, reported Dawn.

Imran was arrested again by the NAB on November 14 in the Al-Qadir Trust case and was handed over to the watchdog on physical remand. His wife Bushra Bibi and his legal team appeared before the court on Monday during the hearing.

Imran’s counsel Sardar Latif Khosa said that physical remand was unnecessary in the case and accused the NAB of engaging in ‘political engineering and political vendetta’. He also said that the government manipulated the watchdog frequently for its own gains.

What is the case about?

The Al-Qadir Trust case pertains to Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi, who allegedly obtained billions and a large amount of land from Bahria Town Ltd for legalising Rs 50 billion that was identified and returned to the country by the UK citizen during the PTI government.

The PTI chairman was arrested from the premises of the Islamabad High Court in the case earlier this year but was released after the Supreme Court declared the arrest unlawful. However, he was again ‘arrested’ during imprisonment by the NAB in the Al-Qadir case.

Former interior minister Rana Sanaullah had accused the ex-PM and Bibi of accepting Rs 5 billion and hundreds of kanals of land for protecting the real estate firm in a money laundering case.

Meanwhile, Imran is also accused of misleading the federal Cabinet by concealing facts related to the settlement agreement, as it is said that the money supposed to be deposited in the national exchequer was ‘dishonestly’ adjusted in the recovery of Bahria Town Karachi’s (BTK) liabilities.

Caretaker government recommends Imran’s name on Exit Control List

A subcommittee of Pakistan’s interim cabinet last week recommended putting the names of Imran Khan and 28 others on the Exit Control List (ECL) to prevent them from leaving the country over their involvement in the corruption case.

“The committee recommended putting the names of 41 people sent by various departments and institutions on the ECL. On the recommendation of NAB, names of 29 people, including Imran Khan, were recommended to be put on the ECL in the £190 million scandal,” said Pakistan’s Interior Ministry on X. 

The ministry further said that the recommendations were sent to the federal Cabinet for approval. The subcommittee meeting was attended by interim Interior Minister Sarfraz Bugti and officials of other departments.

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