Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan confronted questioning by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on corruption prices yesterday, based on his lawyer Faisal Chaudhry. This comes lower than every week after Khan refused a summons to look and dismissed the allegations in opposition to him. The ex-cricket star, who has been in a confrontational relationship with the nation’s highly effective army, was arrested and detained on Might 9, prompting widespread protests and considerations about Pakistan’s stability amid its worst financial disaster in a long time.
“He has joined the investigation,” Chaudhry mentioned, referring to Khan’s questioning by NAB officers. Bushra Khan, his spouse, who additionally faces graft prices, accompanied him, however had not been questioned as of early Tuesday afternoon. Whereas she has not commented on the costs, Khan has rejected them.
Khan, 70 years previous, turned prime minister in 2018 with the army’s implicit assist, which either side denied on the time. Nonetheless, he later fell out with the generals and was faraway from workplace after dropping a confidence vote in 2022. Since then, he has been campaigning for a snap election, holding rallies with supporters throughout Pakistan.
The present prime minister, Shahbaz Sharif, has refused Khan’s name for a normal election earlier than it’s due later this 12 months. Khan’s has garnered widespread recognition amongst Pakistan’s 220 million individuals with a conservative, nationalistic agenda, and his problem to the army institution has additional solidified his assist.
Latest protests in opposition to his arrest noticed his supporters ransacking the houses of senior officers and storming military headquarters, posing an unprecedented problem to the nation’s strongest establishment. The NAB, which has investigated, tried, or jailed all prime ministers since 2008, had requested Khan to attend the investigation on Might 18, however he declined. The NAB set a Might 25 deadline for Khan to look, which might have resulted in his arrest if he didn’t comply.
The NAB arrested Khan this month on allegations that he and his spouse acquired land value thousands and thousands of US {dollars} as a bribe from an actual property tycoon by a charitable belief. Khan referred to as the allegations “completely false, frivolous and concocted” in an announcement to NAB final week.