ISLAMABAD: The Islam­abad High Court (IHC) on Friday granted protective bail to Federal Minister Javed Latif and PTI’s financier Tariq Shafi in two separate cases.

Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani took up the petition filed by Mr Latif seeking protective bail in the FIRs registered against him in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In the petition, he contended the FIRs in different police stations of Punjab were registered against him over uttering remarks during a TV programme broadcast in Islamabad. He requested the court to grant him protective bail so that he could appear before the court of competent jurisdiction, since the IHC had earlier dismissed his petition seeking pre-arrest bail for the want of jurisdiction.

The counsel for Mr Latif, Sardar Taimoor Aslam, requested the court to summon the record of FIRs registered against his client in the two provinces.

The court, while granting the protective bail, ordered the minister to submit surety bonds of Rs10,000 and adjo­urned the case till Oct 27.

In another case, Justice Kayani also approved the protective bail of Mr Shafi in the prohibited funding case against the PTI and directed him to appear before the trial court by Oct 21.

Mr Shafi, along with PTI Chairman Imran Khan and others, has been nominated as an accused in the FIR registered under Sections 406 (breach of trust), 419 (cheating), 420 (dishonesty), 468 (forgery), 471 (using forged documents), 109 (abetment), of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) read with Sections 5 and 23 of Foreign Exchange Regulations (FER) Act, 1947, at Police Station FIA Corporate Crime Circle (CCC).

The case has been registered over their involvement in connection with the prohibited funding case against the party and submitting false affidavits to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

The complaint named Imran Khan, Sardar Azhar Tariq Khan, Saifullah Khan Nyazee, Syed Yunus Ali Raza, Aamer Mehmood Kiani, Tariq Rahim Sheikh, Tariq Shafi, Faisal Maqbool Shaikh, Hamid Zaman and Manzoor Ahmad Chaudhary as signatories/beneficiaries of the PTI account in question.

Earlier this month, two of the accused — Mr Nyazee and Mr Zaman — were taken into “protective custody” by the FIA.

Commenting on the arrests, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah had said Mr Nyazee and Mr Zaman had been taken into custody for interrogation, adding they might be arrested after due diligence, if necessary. He said that the two men had not been appearing in the foreign funding case

Last month, the ECP had issued its verdict in the prohibited funding case — previously referred to as the foreign funding case — against the PTI, which stated that the party did indeed receive prohibited funding.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2022