£190m corruption case: IHC orders Imran, Bushra's meeting with legal counsel within 7 days

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday directed the advocate general Islamabad to arrange a meeting between former prime minister Imran Khan, his spouse Bushra Bibi and their legal counsel within seven days to facilitate the filing and prosecution of appeals against their conviction in the £190 million reference. A division bench comprising IHC Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif resumed hearing appeals challenging the conviction awarded by an accountability court in the high-profile National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference. During the proceedings, Imran’s counsel Barrister Salman Safdar informed the court that despite repeated efforts he had been unable to meet his client, who remains incarcerated at Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail. Cconsequently, he could neither obtain instructions nor secure a signed vakalatnama (power of attorney) for the appeals. The counsel submitted that jail authorities had consistently denied him access to the former prime minister. He pointed out that NAB had recently filed an application contending that the petitions seeking suspension of sentence had become infructuous or were no longer maintainable after the main appeals against the conviction had been fixed for hearing. Safdar argued that without instructions from his client, he was unable to effectively pursue the matter before the court. Referring to a recent Supreme Court judgment, he maintained that the apex court had granted relief in a similar post-conviction case and that both Imran and Bushra were entitled to seek comparable relief. The counsel further informed the bench that his last meeting with Bushra had taken place in December last year and that all subsequent access requests had been declined by prison authorities. CJ Dogar questioned the absence of the advocate general, observing that the law officer was responsible for ensuring that legal counsel were granted access to incarcerated clients whenever required for court proc