ISLAMABAD – Ousted premier and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief on Mondayapproached Islamabad High Court, seeking protective bail to avoid arrest inthe prohibited funding case.

The defiant politician moved court a day after federal investigators bookedhim along with the party’s financial team and a manager of a private bankin a prohibited funding case.

In the petitions filed through his counsel, the former prime ministerexpressed apprehensions about his arrest at the hands of the apexinvestigation agency. He prayed before the court to grant bail so he canappear in the concerned court.

On Tuesday, FIA Commercial Banking Circle lodged a case, months after theelectoral watchdog maintained that the Imran Khan-led party failed todisclose accounts and that hiding accounts is a violation of Article 17 ofthe Constitution.

The FIR said the Abraaj Group, which is owned by business tycoon ArifNaqvi, allegedly transferred $2.1 million to the PTI account in the branchof a bank situated at Jinnah Avenue in the federal capital.

The FIA booked Sardar Azhar Tariq, Tariq Shafi, and Younis Aamir Kiani inthe same case. It also stated that Arif Naqvi submitted a fake affidavit tothe ECP in prohibited funding case.

Some officials of the bank branch have also been named in the FIR overfailing to report the authorities concerned about suspicious transactionsrelated to PTI.

ECP maintained that the party had submitted a fake affidavit about its bankaccounts, and it had determined that the party hid 13 bank accounts that itshould have declared.