Peshawar High Court (PHC) has directed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Asad Qaiser to respond to Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and submit reply of the agency’s questionnaire.
The hearing over Asad Qaiser’s petition against FIA inquiry was done by Justice Lal Jan Khattak and Justice Shakeel Ahmed. Qaiser had filed the petition against the FIA inquiry and the call up notice from agency’s investigating officer (IO).
The court, while ordering former speaker of the National Assembly to cooperate in the investigation, adjourned the hearing till September 22.
FIA’s deputy director of the commercial banking circle had ordered the inquiry after Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had announced on August 2 that PTI had received prohibited funding.
Asad Qaiser’s lawyers Khalid Rehman and Arshad Nowshervi requested the court to adjourn the hearing because the lead counsel of former speaker Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was busy in the Supreme Court of Pakistan, adding that Barrister Gohar would give arguments in the case.
The court noted that Qaiser’s attitude was inappropriate after the court was informed that former speaker was absent because of certain engagements.
Additional Attorney General Aamir Javed informed the court that Asad Qaiser had appeared before the FIA team on the call-up notice.
FIA representative informed the court that Qaiser was handed a questionnaire about the two bank accounts but he had not responded to that so far.
The bench directing Qaiser to submit his reply to the FIA questionnaire adjourned further hearing till September 22.
Asad Qaiser had pleaded that the FIA inquiry against him should be declared illegal and based on mala fide. He had said that ECP had neither directed nor forwarded the matter to the federal government for inquiry against him.
