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ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan’s imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his spouse pleaded not responsible Tuesday in a graft case alleging they accepted a present of land from an actual property tycoon in alternate for big sums of laundered cash, officers stated.
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The case is the second to indict Khan and his spouse, Bushra Bibi, over acts of corruption allegedly dedicated whereas the previous cricket star turned Islamist politician was in workplace.
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Prosecutors accuse the couple of utilizing their household’s charity to arrange a college on land gifted to them by tycoon Malik Riaz. In return, the businessman was allegedly given 190 million British kilos ($240 million) in laundered cash that was returned to Pakistan by British authorities.
Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in parliament in April 2022, is presently serving a number of jail phrases and has some 170 authorized circumstances pending in opposition to him on prices starting from corruption to inciting individuals to violence and terrorism. The couple earlier was convicted in a graft case on prices of promoting state presents whereas in workplace.
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Khan has denied wrongdoing and insisted since his arrest final yr that every one the costs in opposition to him are a plot by rivals to maintain him from returning to workplace.
He was barred from working within the Feb. 8 parliamentary elections by which his rivals from the Pakistan Muslim League social gathering, or PML-N, emerged as the biggest presence within the Nationwide Meeting, or decrease home of the parliament. Khan’s rival, former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, is on observe to kind a coalition authorities when the parliament meets for its inaugural session.
Khan’s social gathering on Tuesday introduced nationwide protests on Saturday in opposition to alleged rigging within the election.
That got here hours after Khan was introduced earlier than the decide on the excessive safety court docket arrange inside Adiala Jail within the garrison metropolis of Rawalpindi, the place he’s serving his jail phrases concurrently.
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Bibi, who’s imprisoned on the couple’s dwelling in Islamabad, was dropped at the court docket in a safety convoy. The decide adjourned the proceedings till subsequent month, Khan’s authorized staff stated.
Individually, Khan and Bibi have been sentenced to seven years in jail every on prices that their 2018 wedding ceremony violated marriage legal guidelines, allegedly as a result of inadequate time had lapsed between Bibi’s earlier divorce and their union.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf social gathering condemned Tuesday’s proceedings as “one sided.” It stated Khan’s authorized staff has had restricted entry to him, and the media have been barred from protecting the trial.
Lawyer Salman Safdar, who represents Khan and Bibi, informed reporters later Tuesday that the 2 are being handled “in an objectionable and condemnable method.” He stated the authorized staff has filed appeals and he hopes for an acquittal quickly.
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Khan has thus far been convicted on prices of corruption, revealing official secrets and techniques and violating marriage legal guidelines in three separate verdicts and sentenced to 10, 14 and 7 years respectively. Underneath Pakistani legislation, he’s to serve the phrases concurrently — which means, the size of the longest of the sentences.
Khan is interesting all of the convictions.
The brand new parliament’s inaugural session is predicted later this week, although the parliament has but to verify it.
Ishaq Dar, a senior chief in Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League social gathering, accused President Arif Alvi of making an attempt to delay the Nationwide Meeting on “technical grounds” however didn’t elaborate. Dar stated that if Alvi didn’t convene the session, the outgoing speaker would do it as a constitutional requirement.
Dar additionally informed reporters that the brand new prime minister will likely be voted on by parliament inside just a few days of the inaugural session. He added that he hopes the brand new authorities will likely be in place subsequent week.
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