RAWALPINDI: As former prime minister Imran Khan faces a jail trial in the £190 million corruption case, former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Pervez Khattak arrived in Adiala Jail on Wednesday to testify against him before an accountability court.
Before he parted ways with the PTI to form the now-defunct PTI-Parliamentarians in the run-up to the Feb 8 polls, Mr Khattak was a key PTI leader, also serving as defence minister in Mr Khan’s federal cabinet, which he claimed had approved a confidential deed to transfer money, seized by the UK, to Bahria Town owner Malik Riaz.
Before Mr Khattak, a number of people considered close to the ex-premier have stood in the witness box in several cases faced by the PTI leader. His secretary Azam Khan testified in the cipher case, while another aide, Aun Chaudhry recorded his statement in the Iddat case.
Usually, the PTI founder does not move from his chair when witnesses record statements. But for Pervez Khattak, Mr Khan rose from his chair and approached the witness box, apparently to get a good look at his former comrade who had now turned against him.
In his almost 15-minute statement, the former PTI leader told accountability judge Mohammad Ali Warriach about the cabinet’s approval of the confidential deed, where the £190m seized by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) as proceeds of crime, was allegedly returned to the property tycoon.
The case alleges that Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi obtained billions of rupees and land to the tune of hundreds of kanal from Bahria Town Ltd for legalising the said amount through the federal cabinet.
Mr Khattak testified before the court that he was a participant in the December 2019 meeting, where then-accountability adviser Mirza Shahzad Akbar produced the confidential deed in a sealed envelope for cabinet approval. He said when he inquired about the document, Mr Akbar said that it was an agreement of the Pakistani government with the NCA for the refund of crime proceeds.
