Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has been detained in connection with corruption involving the Al-Qadir University Trust, headed by the opposition leader and his wife Bushra Bibi, during a court appearance related to a separate case, in the capital Islamabad.
The former prime minister was charged on Tuesday by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) “for the crime of corruption” in the trust.
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah Khan confirmed that Khan, the leader of the main opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, had been detained in connection with an investigation by the anti-corruption agency.
“Imran Khan did not appear despite the notices, NAB has arrested him for damaging the national treasury. No violence was done to them,” the interior minister said in a tweet.
Akbar Nasir Khan, a top police official in Islamabad, told Al Jazeera that NAB had issued an arrest warrant against Khan on May 1 in relation to the case,
PTI leaders have denied the charges leveled by the interior minister, saying Khan had not been issued any arrest warrant before Tuesday.
Since Khan was ousted from power last April by a parliamentary vote of no confidence, he has been charged with more than 100 offenses, including corruption, “terrorism,” and even blasphemy.
The 70-year-old claims the accusations are untrue and political in nature. He has also insisted that the country’s strong military collaborated with political parties to depose him. He even claimed that the United States was involved in a plot to have him removed, a claim he has since retracted his statement.
What is the Al-Qadir University Trust case?
For a crime connected to the Al-Qadir University Trust case, Khan was detained. The new coalition government claimed in June that Khan and his wife bought land worth billions of rupees for their trust from Malik Riaz, a significant Pakistani real estate tycoon, in order to construct a school.
The NAB claims that in a quid pro quo agreement with the real estate mogul, Khan’s PTI administration made a deal with Riaz that resulted in a loss to the federal government of more than $239 million dollars.
In December 2019, Riaz agreed to hand over assets, including properties worth $239m, to United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency in an investigation related to “dirty money”.
Khan and his government were not directly linked to the case.
Khan’s arrest appeared to be unlawful, according to attorney Abuzar Salman Niazi, who told Al Jazeera about changes made to NAB laws last year.
The Lahore-based attorney claims that the new amendments require the NAB to give the accused several notices. Additionally, warrants are only able to be issued in cases of persistent disobedience and “willfully and intentionally” avoiding arrest.
“Earlier, the chairman of the NAB had unbridled powers in terms of issuing arrest warrants for any accused. However, after the change in law, this cannot happen anymore,” Niazi said.
Imran Shafique, a former prosecutor of the NAB and a lawyer based in Islamabad, said that, while NAB has the right to arrest an accused in case of their repeated absence, the case to keep the former prime minister detained “looks weak”.
“The NAB says they have issued multiple notices which Khan did not pay heed to. But according to the revised amendment, the authority not only has to complete its inquiry first but also share the report with the accused,” the lawyer told Al Jazeera.
“The new laws make it much easier for the accused to get bail, so it could perhaps help Imran Khan,” he added.
Lahore-based lawyer Asad Rahim Khan said that Khan’s arrest has little to do with the law and everything to do with fear and persecution.
“Following changes to the NAB law, and given Pakistan’s more general principles of bail, accused persons cannot be arrested unless they are refusing to join the investigation, or are tampering evidence, or are considered flight risks,” he told Al Jazeera.
But in a statement issued after the arrest of the former prime minister, the NAB said Khan did not give respond to summoning notices.
“His arrest has been made in accordance with the NAB ordinance and the law,” the statement said.
Also read: List of roads blocked by PTI protesters in Lahore after Imran Khan’s arrest
