IHC adjourns Imran, Bushra appeals in £190m case after lawyers cite lack of access

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday adjourned hearing of the appeals filed by PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi against their convictions in the £190 million case, accepting a plea by their counsel who said he had been denied access to his clients.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif was hearing the appeals when Barrister Salman Safdar sought an adjournment, saying a miscellaneous application to that effect had been filed.

Plea cites denied meetings

The application states that despite clear IHC orders, meetings are not being arranged with Khan and Bushra Bibi to obtain instructions for pursuing the appeals. It adds that Imran’s three sisters are also in custody, so instructions could not be taken from them either.

Safdar told the court he had met Imran on the bench’s directions, but that the situation was different for Bushra Bibi. “My last meeting with Bushra Bibi was in December 2025,” he said. “Not a single meeting has been arranged with her in 10 months.”

“I request that one meeting with my client be arranged,” he said.

Federal Constitutional Court petition pending

The application also notes that a petition challenging the decision declaring the suspension of Bushra Bibi’s sentence ineffective is pending before the Federal Constitutional Court. It asks that the appeals be fixed for hearing only after that court rules.

Safdar argued that hearing the appeals now would undermine the other proceedings. “Bushra Bibi’s appeal is fixed before the Federal Constitutional Court, so this case should be listed after that,” he said. “If the appeal is heard here, our appeal in the Federal Constitutional Court will become ineffective.”

Road closures and exchange with bench

Safdar said Senior Advocate Sardar Latif Khosa could not reach the court because of road closures, and that he had brought an application on Khosa’s behalf. He congratulated the court on starting its digital working system, but said obstacles and containers remained on the roads despite its clear orders.

“Despite this court’s clear order, there are obstructions and containers everywhere,” he said.

According to advocate Khalid Yousuf Chaudhry, the relevant IHC office had earlier declined to receive the application, saying miscellaneous applications were not accepted on the day of a hearing. Lawyers were told to present it in court during the proceedings.

Safdar also questioned the timing of the listing. “The temperature outside is very high, and it is strange that this case was fixed at such a time,” he said, adding that he was pointing to the registrar’s office, which should not have scheduled it. “There is nothing so special about this case that it had to be fixed at this moment.”

Referring to an earlier order of the bench, he said, “We get relief from the court sometimes and sometimes we do not. When aggrieved, we go in appeal. I am the one affected by an order this court passed. It was summer, sir, perhaps you were angry.”

The chief justice asked whether he would begin arguments that day. Safdar said the earlier order had made him wonder why he had been removed from the case. Justice Dogar asked whether any order had led him to believe the court was biased.

“No, no, nothing like that,” Safdar replied.

The court then accepted the adjournment request and put off the hearing. The next date will be shared once the written order has been released.

The £190 million Al-Qadir Trust case

The £190 million case, also known as the Al-Qadir Trust case, centres on allegations that PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi received land and other benefits from a real estate firm in return for legalising money that the United Kingdom had recovered and returned to Pakistan.

In December 2018, shortly after the PTI came to power, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) began freezing bank accounts linked to property tycoon Malik Riaz. In 2019, the NCA agreed to a £190 million settlement with Riaz’s family, which included a London property valued at about £50 million and funds from frozen accounts. Earlier that year, the Supreme Court of Pakistan had accepted Riaz’s offer of Rs460 billion in settlement dues after his firm, Bahria Town, was found to have illegally acquired thousands of acres of land in Karachi.

The recovered money was transferred to the Supreme Court’s account, not the government’s. Then special assistant on accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar defended this by saying the apex court was part of the government, and cited confidentiality clauses with the UK in declining to discuss details.

The matter resurfaced in June 2022 after the leak of an alleged audio conversation between Riaz and his daughter, which Riaz dismissed as fabricated. A week later, then interior minister Rana Sanaullah accused Imran and Bushra of accepting Rs5 billion and hundreds of kanals of land for protecting the firm. He alleged that Bahria Town had donated land to the Al-Qadir Trust, which had only two trustees, Imran and Bushra, and that Akbar had “settled” the matter by adjusting the Rs50 billion against the firm’s liability. The federal cabinet then formed a committee to probe the matter.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) summoned Riaz and other beneficiaries in December 2022, and had earlier sent notices to 21 members of Imran’s cabinet. Its reference alleged that Imran played a “pivotal role” in the illicit transfer of funds meant for the state. Riaz, his son Ahmed Ali Riaz, Akbar, Zulfi Bukhari, Farhat Shahzadi and Ziaul Mustafa Nasim were among the others named. Several were declared proclaimed offenders after they failed to join proceedings, and their properties were frozen.

Imran was arrested on May 9, 2023 as he appeared before the Islamabad High Court in an unrelated case. The arrest triggered nationwide protests and riots, and he was released after the Supreme Court declared it unlawful. He was arrested again by NAB in the case in November 2023 and has remained in custody since.

An accountability court indicted the couple in February 2024. After the verdict was delayed three times, Judge Nasir Javed Rana convicted them on January 17, 2025 at a makeshift court in Adiala Jail. Imran received 14 years and Bushra seven years, with fines of Rs1 million and Rs500,000 respectively. Imran has called the case “bogus” and politically motivated, saying his rivals have “weaponised institutions”.