NAB team to arrest Bushra Bibi in £190 million case

ISLAMABAD: A National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team from Rawalpindi will be dispatched to arrest Bushra Bibi, the wife of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, in connection with the £190 million corruption reference.

According to The News, NAB has instructed its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) branch to cooperate fully with the Rawalpindi team, with additional assistance from KP police if required.

The development comes after an accountability court issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Bushra Bibi on November 22 due to her repeated absence from eight consecutive hearings.

Judge Nasir Javed Rana also rejected her application for exemption from personal appearances and issued a show-cause notice to her guarantor.

During the hearing, Imran Khan, currently in Adiala Jail, was presented in court. However, NAB officials questioned the authenticity of Bushra’s medical report, highlighting that it was issued by Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital but notarized in Islamabad.

Additionally, neither Khan nor Bushra had submitted their responses under Section 342 of the CrPC, 1898, despite receiving a 79-point questionnaire during the case’s second-to-last hearing, according to the paper.

PM accuses PTI of fueling economic instability

The £190 million reference, filed by NAB in December 2023, accuses Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi, and others of misusing public funds in a settlement between the PTI government and a prominent property tycoon Malik Riaz, causing significant financial losses to the national exchequer.

The charges allege that Rs50 billion (£190 million) sent by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to Pakistan’s government as part of the tycoon’s asset recovery settlement was misappropriated. Bushra Bibi is implicated as a trustee of the Al-Qadir Trust, which is said to have received undue benefits, including 458 kanals of land in Mouza Bakrala, Sohawa, for establishing Al-Qadir University.

Bushra Bibi was previously released on bail last month after spending nine months in custody over the Toshakhana case. Investigations into the £190 million case remain ongoing.