Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan on Saturday filed a petition for acquittal in the £190 million case after the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) amendments case.
The petition was submitted during a hearing at the accountability court in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail, where Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, are accused of causing billions of rupees in losses to the national exchequer.
Khan’s lawyer argued that the case against the former prime minister is no longer valid in light of the Supreme Court’s decision, which upheld certain amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), protecting cabinet decisions. The lawyer questioned whether the accountability court still had jurisdiction over the case post-amendments, leaving it to the court to decide.
The NAB prosecutor contended that the acquittal plea could only proceed if the court affirmed its jurisdiction. However, Khan’s legal team maintained they were not challenging the court’s authority.
The hearing was adjourned until September 10, as the court considers Khan’s acquittal plea.
This petition follows the Supreme Court’s acceptance of intra-court appeals filed by the federal and provincial governments against a September 15, 2023, ruling that had struck down several amendments to the NAO.
The recent verdict, delivered by a five-member bench led by Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa, confirmed that Khan’s challenge to the NAB amendments was unsuccessful. The amendments had originally been introduced by the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM)-led government in 2022 following Khan’s ousting through a no-confidence vote.
