Al-Qadir Trust case: FCC fixes Bushra Bibi’s plea seeking suspension of sentence

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) has fixed for hearing former first lady Bushra Bibi’s plea seeking suspension of her sentence in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust case.

A two-member FCC bench comprising Justice Aminuddin Khan and Justice Ali Baqar Najafi will hear the case on October 15.

On January 17, 2025, Accountability Court Judge Nasir Javed Rana sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan to 14 years with a fine of Rs1 million and Bushra Bibi to seven years in prison with a fine of Rs500,000 in the Al-Qadir Trust case.

Earlier, Bushra Bibi had approached the FCC through her counsel Barrister Salman Safdar and senior members of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf legal team seeking early fixation of her plea in the Al-Qadir Trust case also known as the £190 million case.

PTI Secretary General Salman Akram Raja, Barrister Salman Safdar and Khalid Yousaf Chaudhry had met the FCC additional registrar, requesting that Bushra’s case be registered and fixed for an early hearing.

Talking to the media after meeting the FCC registrar, Advocate Intezar Hussain Panjutha had said that the FCC office had assured the legal team that the case would be numbered within the week and subsequently fixed before an appropriate bench.

In the plea, her counsel cited her deteriorating eyesight and health and argued that further delay in deciding the sentence suspension plea could cause serious prejudice.

According to the application, Bushra had developed a serious eye condition during the prolonged legal proceedings and underwent surgery on one eye in April 2026. Her lawyers said she remained at risk of further deterioration in her eyesight and sought priority consideration of her case.

The plea also contended that Bushra, being a woman and suffering from a serious medical condition, was entitled to consideration for suspension of her sentence under the first proviso to Section 497(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Her lawyers had further argued that the role attributed to her by the prosecution was confined to aiding and abetting rather than committing a primary or substantive act constituting the offence.

The accountability court had found the two guilty in a case concerning allegations related to the handling of £190 million recovered by the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency. The court held that the accused had provided undue benefit to property tycoon Malik Riaz in connection with the recovery of the funds.

Bushra and Imran had initially approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking suspension of their sentences. The IHC dismissed their requests in May 2026, observing that their appeals against the convictions had already been fixed for hearing.

They subsequently approached the Supreme Court, but the petitions were returned by the court office as not maintainable.

The office observed that since the IHC had passed the impugned order while exercising jurisdiction under Section 32 of the National Accountability Ordinance, the remedy lay before the Federal Constitutional Court under Section 32-A of the ordinance.

Bushra subsequently moved the newly established FCC on July 30 seeking suspension of her sentence. Her appeal was filed under Section 32-A of the National Accountability Ordinance read with Article 175F(1)(a) of the Constitution.

The matter gained further urgency after the IHC on Monday adjourned indefinitely the appeals filed by Imran and Bushra against their convictions in the £190 million case.

During the hearing, Barrister Salman Safdar told the IHC that an application seeking suspension of Bushra’s sentence had already been filed before the FCC and that an early hearing application had been submitted on September 17. He argued that if the IHC proceeded with the appeals, proceedings before the FCC could be rendered ineffective.

The IHC bench, comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif, subsequently adjourned the appeals indefinitely. Safdar also raised concerns about his inability to meet Bushra, saying he had not been able to meet his client since December 2025.