A special court for offences in banks on Wednesday extended the interim bail of two accused, involved in a case of prohibited foreign funding against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, registered by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Lahore, till November 10.
Banking Offence Court Judge Aslam Gondal heard the pre-arrest bail applications of both the accused, Tariq Shafi and Mubashir Ahmad.
The FIA investigation officer appeared before the court in response to court’s previous order. The officer sought time for submitting a report about the investigations, in response to a court query. He assured that the investigation report would be submitted soon.
The court adjourned further proceedings and sought an investigation report till Nov 10. The court also extended the interim bail of the accused till the next date of hearing.
The accused had filed pre-arrest bail applications, saying that the FIA had nominated them in a case of prohibited funding. They submitted that allegations of prohibited funding were baseless, adding that they wanted to join the investigation but feared their arrest.
They pleaded with the court to grant benefit of the bail to them as co-accused, Hamid Zaman, had already been granted bail in the matter.
The FIA alleged that Tariq Shafi got registered a bogus trust as chairman, under the name of ‘The Insaf Trust’, to give an impression that it was part of the PTI, with Ashiq Hussain Qureshi as deputy chairman, Hamid Zaman as general secretary, Manzoor Ahmad Chaudhry and Mubashir Ahmad as trustees. It said the funding received in the trust was used for political campaigns of the PTI.
The agency further alleged that the suspects and Arif Naqvi of Abraaj group, in collusion with the PTI leadership and others, committed a fraud.
