Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi verdict in £190 million case postponed

RAWALPINDI: The verdict against former prime minister Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi has been deferred for the third time in the £190 million case, also known as the Al-Qadir Trust case. 

Judge Nasir Javed Rana announced that the verdict in the case has been postponed till January 17.

Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi did not appear before the court in the case.

Judge Nasir Javed remarked that PTI founder Imran Khan had been conveyed three times to come before the court, but he failed to show up. Similarly, Bushra Bibi and her counsels did not appear before the court.

Former PTI minister and independent Senator Faisal Vawda on Sunday had predicted that the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust reference was an “open-and-shut case” and the conviction of incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan in the corruption case was “writing on the wall.”

The PTI founder committed a crime and will face punishment”, he had said.

Imran Khan was taken into custody by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on November 13, 2023, in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust case. Both he and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were interrogated for 17 days at Adiala Jail.

The case proceeded after NAB filed a reference on December 1, 2023. Formal charges against the couple were submitted on February 27, 2024.

Key witnesses in the case included former cabinet member Pervez Khattak, ex-federal minister Zubaida Jalal, former principal secretary Azam Khan, and the Chief Financial Officer of Al-Qadir University. Additionally, the court declared six co-accused, including Zulfi Bukhari, Farhat Shahzadi, Mirza Shahzad Akbar, and Zia-ul-Mustafa Nasim, as absconders and ordered the freezing of their assets and bank accounts.

WHAT IS THE AL-QADIR TRUST CASE?

The NAB filed the case in December 2023, alleging that the PTI founder, Bushra Bibi, and others had misused their authority in a financial settlement involving Rs50 billion (approximately £190 million at the time).

The charges allege that the former prime minister approved a confidential settlement with the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) on December 3, 2019, without revealing its details. This agreement facilitated the return of funds from a property tycoon to Pakistan. The money was then deposited into the Supreme Court on behalf of the tycoon.

In return, NAB officials claim the PTI founder and his wife received land worth billions of rupees from the tycoon to establish an educational institution. This deal allegedly gave legal protection to the tycoon’s black money received from the NCA.

The Al-Qadir Trust was formally established in Islamabad a few weeks after the PTI-led government approved the settlement.

The 71-year-old former cricketer and politician has been imprisoned since August 2023 after being sentenced in the Toshakhana case-I. The Al-Qadir Trust case is one of the numerous legal challenges he has faced since his ouster from power in April 2022.

Vawda predicts Imran Khan’s conviction in £190m case