ISLAMABAD   -   The Islamabad High Court (IHC) Monday barred a trial court from giving a final verdict in the £190 million case against former prime minister Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra.

A division bench of IHC comprising Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Babar Sattar said that the case trial will continue.

 However, it barred the trial court from making a final judgement in the case and deferred the hearing of the case till tomorrow.

During the hearing, the petitioner’s lawyer Salman Safdar argued that the trial court had already testified 35 witnesses and that the cross-examination of the last witness, the NAB investigation officer, was still pending. The court noted that out of the eight individuals named in the reference, six were absconders, and the trial was proceeding only against two individuals.

The lawyer stated that the petitioner was accused of facilitating the £190 million scam, and that the NAB case claimed the amount was supposed to arrive in a bank but instead came into the Supreme Court’s account.

In this matter, Imran Khan filed the petition seeking court’s directions to halt the trial in the £190 million corruption case.

Imran Khan’s counsel contended that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had recommended closing the £190m corruption reference on April 2020, and that during the cross-examination, the investigation officer acknowledged certain facts related to the meeting.

The petition, filed by Barrister Salman Safdar and Advocate Khalid Yousaf Chaudhry, said that the former prime minister had filed an application before an accountability court, seeking the case record, but it was dismissed by the judge.

The petition said, “The investigation officer of the case appeared before the accountability court as PW [prosecution witness] 35 and during the cross-examination, he categorically admitted the holding of 343rd EBM, [and] closure of this case by the above EBM.”

It said the minutes of the aforementioned meeting are in the possession of NAB and need to be produced before the trial court as crucial evidence in support of the defence. The petition requested the IHC to issue a directive for NAB to produce the relevant record before the trial court, and stay the trial proceedings till the submission of the record.