NAB KP gives Imran questionnaire in helicopter misuse case

PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa office handed over a questionnaire to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairperson and prime minister-nominee Imran Khan on Tuesday to probe his alleged illegal use of a helicopter that belonged to the KP government.

According to NAB officials, the questionnaire is based on 15 questions over Imran's alleged illegal use of a provincial government-owned, Mi-17 and an Ecureuil helicopter for 74 hours, which caused a loss of Rs2.1 million to the national exchequer.

Imran Khan has 15 days to submit his response to the questionnaire. 

Former chief minister of KP, Pervez Khattak and former speaker of provincial assembly, Asad Qaiser accompanied Imran to the NAB Peshawar office, where he stayed for an hour. 

The PTI chief had been summoned by the accountability body on July 18, but had sought more time to appear due to his busy schedule for campaigning for the general election. He had submitted an application to the NAB through his counsel Babar Awan seeking another date to appear in the case.

On January 29 this year, Geo News reported that the former KP government spent millions of rupees on Imran's use of the provincial government's helicopters.

NAB chairman Justice (retired) Javed Iqbal in February directed the bureau to launch a probe against the PTI chief and then-KP chief minister Pervez Khattak over the unofficial use of two government helicopters by misusing authority.

Certain government officials and Khattak have already appeared before the combined investigation team in the same inquiry.