NAB considering approaching the Supreme Court to cancel the bail of Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is disappointed that the third witness’s question was dragged out for three consecutive months on behalf of the defendant in the hearing of Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) Imran Khan’s 190 million pound case. Bushra is considering approaching the Supreme Court to cancel Bibi’s bail.
Prosecutor General NAB Syed Ehtesham Qadir has told The News that the defendant in this case has already requested to adjourn the hearing 34 times, while the cross-examination of the last witness has been conducted since July 30, 2024.
He said that 38 hearings of the case have been held since July 30, but the cross-examination of the last prosecution witness (an investigating officer of NAB) has not been completed so far. Further, he said that delaying tactics by the defendant in the trial of the NCA’s 190 million pounds case is a clear abuse of bail.
He said that he would recommend the Chairman NAB to approach the Supreme Court to cancel the bail of Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi in this case.
The Prosecutor General of NAB said that it is worth noting that the last witness (Mian Umar Nadeem) had recorded his examination in chief on July 30, but unfortunately, despite the passage of more than three months, his cross-examination has been delayed.
He further said that the purpose of establishing NAB is to eliminate corruption and corrupt practices and to hold accountable all those who are accused of involvement in these activities, and it is also the purpose of NAB that such Cases should be dealt with immediately.
He said that it is being brought to the notice of Chairman NAB that the defense in this case is deliberately taking delaying tactics to obstruct the trial, despite several attempts by the prosecution to speed up the proceedings, the defendant continued to play various tricks to prolong the trial.
Ehtesham Qadir revealed that out of a total of 65 hearings, the defendant requested for adjournment 34 times, and cited frivolous reasons on several occasions only to prevent the case from reaching its conclusion.
He said that the prosecution has serious reservations about these actions of the defendant as they have seriously undermined the integrity of the trial by causing unnecessary delay.
Prosecutor General NAB said that in this case, the prosecution has never requested for adjournment of the proceedings in terms of presenting evidence while the presence of prosecution witnesses has been ensured at every hearing. This reference was filed in the first week of December 2023.