Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan was yesterday questioned by an anti-corruption agency on corruption charges, his lawyer said, less than a week after he rejected a summons to appear and denounced the allegations against him.
The embattled Khan, who says corruption charges have been concocted, is embroiled in a confrontation with the powerful military, which has ruled Pakistan directly or overseen civilian governments throughout its history.
Khan was arrested and detained on May 9 in the same case, sparking widespread protests by his supporters, and raising new worries about the stability of the nuclear-armed country as it struggles with its worst economic crisis in decades.
Khan was later freed on bail.
“He has joined investigation,” said his lawyer, Faisal Chaudhry, referring to his questioning by officials of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on charges that he and his wife received land worth millions of dollars as a bribe from a real estate tycoon through a charitable trust.
Khan called the allegations ‘absolutely false, frivolous and concocted’ in a statement to NAB last week.