Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi convicted in £190m case

ISLAMABAD: A court in the federal capital on Friday convicted Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, in the £190 million case.

Accountability Court Judge Nasir Javed Rana handed down a 14-year sentence to the PTI founder and a seven-year sentence to his wife, while also slapping heavy fines on them.

The PTI founder will have to pay a fine of Rs1 million and his wife has been slapped with a fine of Rs0.5 million. In case they fail to pay the fine, the ex-prime minister will serve six months more and Bushra three months.

The team of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), led by Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi, was present at Adiala jail to attend the announcement of the much-awaited verdict by Judge Nasir Javed Rana.

Also present at the jail were the wife of the PTI founder, Barristers Gohar Khan, Shoaib Shaheen, Salman Akram Raja, and other lawyers.

Security beefed up

The Rawalpindi police devised a comprehensive security plan to maintain law and order. The surveillance around Adiala Jail was overseen by SP Saddar Nabeel Khokhar.

SDPO Saddar Daniyal Rana was appointed as the security in-charge, while SHO Saddar Aizaz Azim acted as the overall sub-in-charge of security arrangements.

SHO of Chontra Police Station, Saqib Abbasi, and Inspector Muhammad Saleem, the in-charge of Adiala Checkpoint, also performed their designated duties.

Additional personnel from six police stations were deployed around Adiala Jail. Elite and Dolphin Forces were also stationed to oversee security matters.

Under the supervision of Inspector Nasreen Batool, female police officers were deployed for security operations.

SDPOs and SHOs had briefed the entire force on managing security responsibilities. Plain-clothes personnel were also deployed to monitor security-related activities.

Al-Qadir Trust case

The Al-Qadir Trust case, commonly known as the £190m case involved allegations that Khan and some others in 2019 adjusted Rs50 billion — amounting to £190 million at the time — sent by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Pakistani government during his tenure as the country’s prime minister.

The concerned amount relates to a property tycoon’s assets which were seized by the NCA during PTI’s rule. The British crime agency back then had said that the amount was supposed to be passed to the Government of Pakistan as its settlement with the Pakistani property tycoon was “a civil matter, and does not represent a finding of guilt”.

However, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a reference in December 2023, followed by charges against Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, on February 27, 2024, alleging that a settlement with the British crime agency was reached and approved by then-prime minister Khan on December 3, 2019, without disclosing details of the confidential agreement.

Although it was decided that the money would be submitted to the Supreme Court on behalf of the businessman concerned, Al-Qadir Trust was set up a few weeks later following an agreement — allegedly aimed at providing legal cover to the black money received from the NCA — with the property mogul.

PTI leaders Zulfi Bukhari, Babar Awan, the then-first lady Bushra, and her close friend Farhat Shehzadi alias Farah Gogi were appointed as members of the trust.

The anti-graft watchdog further accuses Bukhari, a close aide of the PTI founder, of receiving 458 kanals of land a few months after the cabinet’s approval of the settlement.

The land was later transferred to the trust which is now registered in the name of Khan, Bushra and Farah after Bukhari and Awan opted out.

After authorities began probing the matter, Khan was arrested from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on May 9, 2023.

This was the first time the ousted prime minister was arrested, followed by countrywide violent protests by the PTI supporters during which his supporters attacked and set fire to military and other state installations.

However, Khan was granted bail on IHC’s orders after a few days, while the Supreme Court deemed also his arrest from the premises of the high court “illegal”.

The trial, which spanned over a year, saw key witnesses testify, including former cabinet members Pervez Khattak and Zubaida Jalal, ex-principal secretary Azam Khan, and the chief financial officer of the Al-Qadir University.

Pervez Khattak testified that then-accountability adviser Mirza Shahzad Akbar presented a sealed document to the cabinet, describing it as an agreement between the Pakistani government and the NCA for the refund of crime proceeds.

Azam Khan corroborated that Akbar had brought a sealed document for approval.

Zubaida Jalal stated that cabinet members were not informed about the transfer of “proceeds of crime” to the property tycoon.

During the trial, six co-accused, including Zulfi Bukhari, Farah Gogi, Mirza Shahzad Akbar, and Zia-ul-Mustafa Nasim, were declared absconders. The court ordered the freezing of their assets and bank accounts.

Khan submitted a list of 16 witnesses to the trial court, but the request to summon them was denied. Meanwhile, the case proceedings saw multiple judicial changes, with four judges — Judge Muhammad Bashir, Judge Nasir Javed Rana, Judge Muhammad Ali Warraich, and Judge Rana again — presiding over the hearings.