Adiala Superintendent claims that lawyer Salman Safdar had tried to mislead the court in the case
ISLAMABAD:
The lawyer for former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, and the Adiala Jail authorities on Monday made conflicting claims regarding the signing and delivery of powers of attorney (PoAs) required to represent the couple at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the £190 million case.
The Superintendent of Adiala Jail, in a written reply submitted to the IHC, claimed that the PoAs signed by Imran and his wife Bushra Bibi had been prepared on June 16 in compliance with court orders and that their lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar, had been informed the same day via SMS.
He alleged that lawyer Salman Safdar had tried to mislead the court regarding the case.
According to the response, Safdar was informed via SMS that the signed PoAs were available for collection. Jail authorities also attached a screenshot of the text message with their response submitted to the court.
The superintendent further alleged that the legal team representing Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi deliberately did not collect the documents before the hearing held on June 18, despite being informed.
Responding to the prison authorities’ allegations, barrister Salman Safdar strongly contested the superintendent’s version of events.
Safdar told Express Pakinomist that members of his legal team visited Adiala prison five to six times in the last four weeks to get the power of attorney but did not get the documents.
He said lawyers Sarmad, Ahmad Maysar and Khalid Yousaf approached the Adiala jail on more than five occasions to secure the documents.
According to Safdar, the repeated failed attempts forced the legal team to file a contempt petition in the Islamabad High Court on the morning of June 15. “After filing the contempt petition, it was conveyed for the first time that we could collect a POA executed only by Imran Khan Sahib and not by Imran Khan Sahib, and not by Bushra Bibi,” said Bushra Bibi. This was unacceptable to us.
