Imran Khan given last chance to appear in prohibited funding case

ISLAMABAD: A banking court on Saturday gave the last chance to former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to appear in the prohibited funding case, local media reported.

The banking court judge, Rukhshanda Shaheen, issued a written order on the bail plea of PTI Chairman Imran Khan in the prohibited funding case.

The court accepted PTI chief Imran Khan’s plea for an exemption from personal appearance.

The judge ordered to include PTI Chairman Imran Khan in the investigation and that he should make sure to appear before the court on the next hearing on January 31.

Earlier, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s ruling in the prohibited funding case.

The petition stated that the case should be heard on a daily basis. The Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) is carrying out operations on the ECP ruling against the party leaders, the petitioner added.

The case’s First Information Report (FIR) stated that the accused, including the former premier Imran Khan, violated the Foreign Exchange Act and all of the nominated persons were beneficiaries of the private bank account.

It is pertinent to mention here that the PTI founding member and former information secretary Akbar S Babar had filed the case in the ECP in November 2014, alleging financial irregularities in PTI’s foreign funding and that it had received funds from prohibited sources.