The PTI chief’s legal aide Naeem Haider Panjutha has said that former prime minister Imran Khan does not deny receiving land for the Al-Qadir trust from property tycoon Malik Riaz.
“Khan accepts the fact that £190 million came in the Supreme Court account and he and his wife Bushra Bibi are trustees in Al-Qadir trust. He [Khan] says that he is not getting any benefit from all of this,” Panjutha told Asma Shirazi on Faisla Aap Ka on Monday.
According to him, the NAB was unnecessarily taking hours interrogating Khan when he had already answered all the questions and submitted the records related to the Al-Qadir trust.
“Today, when I asked Imran Khan about the reports that the National Accountability Bureau interrogated him for hours, he said that the officials would ask him questions for around 15 minutes and would then begin gossiping,” he added.
Panjutha claimed that the NAB is attempting to create an impression that it is achieving some huge success from the proceedings and that Khan was not able to satisfy the investigation teams.
PML-N’s Senator Afnan Ullah Khan said that taking money in the name of a trust was an old tactic.
“Many people take money from the trust they control. If you are holding public office and take financial favour in any way, it will fall under corrupt practice,” he added.
Recalling PTI leaders celebrating and making fun of PML-N when Nawaz Sharif was disqualified in different cases, he said that Khan was now at the receiving end of what was done to the PML-N in the past.
“At that time, they [PTI] would say that another wicket of PML-N has fallen. Now, they are at the receiving end,” he added.
The PML-N leaders faced their cases in the past, Senator Khan said, adding that the PTI should also fight their cases in the relevant forums.
PPP’s Senator Moula Bux Chandio said that there has never been accountability in Pakistan, but only settling scores.
“When Nawaz Sharif was in power, his party leader called Benazir Bhutto a thief and opened cases against the PPP leaders. The same happened to Sharif’s daughter when people began calling her a thief,” he added.
He also questioned the manner in which the former prime minister returned to the country and the alleged state protocol given to him on his homecoming.
“He was a convict and was in prison before leaving the country and came back as a king,” Senator Chandio said.