FIA suggests SC to close Asghar Khan case
FIA submitted a report stating that there is insufficient evidence to launch criminal proceedings.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Saturday has requested the Supreme Court (SC) to close Asghar Khan case against Sharif brothers.
According to details, the agency has submitted a report in the top court stating that there is insufficient evidence to launch criminal proceedings against the Sharif family.
The politicians who were accused of taking money during elections in 90s have denied the allegations while no record regarding transfer of that amount into the bank accounts has been found, the report revealed.
Asghar Khan case
A case was filed by the late former chief of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) retired Air Marshal Asghar Khan alleging that country’s intelligence agency had provided Rs140 million to the politicians in the 1990s to form the Islami Jamhoori Itehad (IJT) in order to prevent PPP from winning the polls of the 1990 general elections.
The case has been shrouded in complexities as many former army officers including former ISI Chief General (Retd) Aslam Baig and PM Nawaz Sharif were involved.
Hearing of the case was started in 1996 by the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan. A detalied judgement was reached in November 2012 by 3 member bench of SC comprising then Cheif Justice Iftikhar Chaudhary, Justice Jawad S Khawaja and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain.
The decision stated that action should be taken against those involved. The detailed order also stated that the late president Ghulam Ishaq Khan, former army chief General (r) Aslam Beg, and ISI ex-DG General (r) Asad Durrani, acted in violation of the Constitution by helping politicians to secure their success against their opponents in the elections of 1990 for which they received funds from Younis Habib.
In light of this decision, a team of FIA had investigated the case under the supervision of then FIA Additional Director General Galib Ali Bandesha, but the inquiry was never completed.
Investigation into the case again picked up in April 2015 with FIA Director General Akbar Khan Hoti forming a joint investigation team (JIT) under the supervision of FIA Additional Director General Khalid Qureshi including FIA Punjab Director Dr Usman Anwer and some other senior directors of FIA as members of the team.
The JIT was formed on the orders of former interior minister Nisar calling the team to finalize the case and speed up its process.
