ISLAMABAD: Former Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan was brought to NAB Rawalpindi on Tuesday after his arrest in the Islamabad High Court in the Al-Qadir Trust case and was kept as a prisoner in a room of the NAB an additional director.
NAB sources told WE News that Imran Khan was kept in NAB Rawalpindi till 2 am, where senior NAB officers interrogated him before he was transferred to Police Lines Headquarters at midnight amidst tight security.
According to NAB sources, due to security reasons, Imran Khan was shifted to Police Lines Headquarter at 2 am.
According to the sources, the top NAB officers continued questioning Imran Khan regarding the Al Qadir Trust case until 2 am. The sources said Imran Khan cooperated with the investigation team and answered the questions asked during the detention.
Senior NAB officer Mian Umar Nadeem, who serves as deputy director at NAB Rawalpindi, is the investigation officer in the case. According to the sources, a medical team of PIMS Hospital also examined Imran Khan at midnight and all his medical tests were carried out.
Contrary to popular opinion, NAB was fully prepared for the arrest of Imran Khan for the last 10 days. According to sources in NAB, the renovation and decoration of the room for Imran Khan’s imprisonment in NAB was carried out on May 1 after the NAB chairman issued the warrant for his arrest. He was then scheduled to be arrested on his previous court appearance on May 4, but that was postponed for some unknown reasons.
The sources further said that Imran Khan has been provided with A-class facilities, contrary to a fake picture circulating on social media. The room also has an attached bath.
On May 1, the office table was removed, and a bed was put in the room. Last night, Imran Khan could not rest in his room as he was shifted to the Police Lines to ensure his court appearance the next morning.
The NAB Rawalpindi also has a police station. In the past, former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former President Asif Zardari were also kept there after they were arrested when the PTI was in power.
What is NAB’s Al-Qadir Trust case?
According to NAB, Malik Riaz, owner of Bahria Town, has donated over 458 kanals, of land to Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi for Al-Qadir Trust University located in Village Barkhala, Tehsil Sowah District Jhelum, and in return for which, Imran Khan allegedly helped Malik Riaz get back Rs50 billion which the UK government had returned to the Pakistani government.
In October 2022, the NAB started investigating the case. According to NAB documents, in a cabinet meeting chaired by Imran Khan on December 3, 2019, it was decided to indirectly transfer Rs50 billion received from the UK to Malik Riaz.
The British National Crime Agency (NCA) seized the money from property tycoon Malik Riaz on money laundering charges.
Imran Khan registered trust for the Al-Qadir University project on December 26, 2019, within weeks of the cabinet’s decision regarding the real estate developer, who later became a donor to the university. According to the NAB, just three weeks before the trust registration, Imran Khan’s cabinet decided to return the money received by the Pakistan government through the UK’s National Crime Agency to Malik Riaz.
Taking notice of alleged corruption and corrupt practices in the case, NAB Rawalpindi summoned all the members present at the cabinet meeting on December 3, 2019, including Pervez Khattak, Fawad Chaudhry and Sheikh Rasheed, on separate dates under the NAB Ordinance 1999.
