The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday disposed of the petitions against NAB notices to PTI’s chairman Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in Toshakhana gifts case.
The court said that the bureau was authorised to take action against Imran Khan as per the law if he was not joining the investigation process. It remarked that the court couldn’t even stop the investigation process of the anti-corruption watchdog. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), in its comments submitted to the bench, stated that the former prime minister was sent a questionnaire, but he didn’t bother to answer it. Imran Khan also didn’t appear before the investigation team despite summon issued by the NAB, it said, adding that action would be taken against PTI’s chief as per the law.
The NAB said that Imran Khan deliberately wanted to delay the matter, adding that he had received a total of 58 gifts from toshakhana. The prosecutor said that the petitioners had only challenged the NAB notices dated February 16th, and 17th while the bureau had also served a third notice to the accused. He said that the petition had become ineffective with regard to the two NAB notices after serving of the third. Chief Justice Aamer Farooq instructed the NAB to send the next notices in line of the directives of the top court. The court also directed the NAB to proceed the matter within the limit of law and remarked that it couldn’t stop the investigation process of the anti-graft body. After this, the bench disposed of the cases. It may be mentioned here that the NAB had served call-up notices to Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi regarding toshakhana gifts. The PTI chief had challenged the move instead of appearing before the court.
