- Khan, Bushra accused of causing loss to national exchequer.
- Couple investigated for settlement with property tycoon.
- NAB records testimonies of 35 witnesses in one-year-long trial.
ISLAMABAD: An accountability court hearing the £190 million case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi on Monday deferred announcing the reserved verdict.
Judge Nasir Javed Rana will soon announce the new date for the pronouncement of the verdict which was reserved on December 18.
The postponement comes as the court had previously set December 23 (today) as the date for announcing the verdict.
Also known as the Al-Qadir Trust case, the former prime minister along with his wife, Bushra and others have been accused by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) of causing a loss of £190 million to the national exchequer via a a settlement between the PTI government and a property tycoon.
During the one-year-long trial, NAB recorded testimonies of 35 witnesses, including former principal secretary Azam Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ex-chief minister Pervez Khattak and former federal minister Zubaida Jalal.
The said case is part of the plethora of legal challenges faced by the incarcerated PTI founder who has been behind bars since August last year after he was sentenced in Toshakhana case-I.
Al-Qadir Trust case overview
The anti-graft watchdog had filed the reference against Khan, Bushra, and others in December 2023 over the purported settlement.
As per the charges of the case, Khan and other accused allegedly adjusted Rs50 billion — £190 million at the time — sent by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Pakistani government as part of the agreement with a property tycoon.
Subsequently, the then-prime minister got approval for the settlement with the UK crime agency from his cabinet on December 3, 2019, without disclosing the details of the confidential agreement.
It was decided that the money would be submitted to the Supreme Court on behalf of the tycoon.
According to NAB officials, the PTI founder and his wife obtained land worth billions of rupees from the property tycoon, to build an educational institute, in return for striking a deal to give legal cover to the property tycoon’s black money received from the UK crime agency.
Later, the Al-Qadir Trust was established in Islamabad a few weeks after the PTI-led government approved the agreement with the property tycoon.
