Al-Qadir Trust case: court reserves verdict in £190mn case against Imran, Bushra

An accountability court on Wednesday reserved the verdict in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust case against former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi, Aaj News reported.

Judge Nasir Javed Rana will announce the verdict on December 23, 2024.

The development comes after the prosecution completed final arguments in the case a day ago.

The National Accou­n­t­a­bility Bureau (NAB) launched an inquiry into the Al-Qadir University Trust case - also called as £190 million reference - in 2023.

According to the NAB, Imran and his wife obtained billions of rupees and land measuring hundreds of kanals from Malik Riaz of Bahria Town in return for Rs50 billion that was paid as a settlement with the National Crime Agency (NCA) of the UK and the same was adjusted in lieu of a fine imposed on the property tycoon by the Supreme Court.

In May, a heavy contingent of Rangers arrested the PTI chief in the case at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) premises where he was seeking bail in multiple FIRs registered against him.

Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi were indicted by the court in the case in February this year.

Tuesday’s hearing

The NAB prosecutor, while arguing before the court on Tuesday, said the deed was signed on December 6, 2019, while the first installment of the amount was deposited on November 29, 2019, in the Supreme Court’s account.

The deed was approved by the federal cabinet on December 3,2019, he said, adding that even the cabinet was not informed that the first installment had reached Pakistan.

He said negotiations between the Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) and the NCA since December 2018. The deed was sent to the NCA before the approval of the federal cabinet, he said, adding that later, the deed was approved by the cabinet.

The prosecutor said that there was no law that prohibited that the deed signed between ARU and NCA not be public. According to the NAB law, the grants or donations taken by the public office holder were the property of the government, he said.

He alleged that PTI’s founding chairman as prime minister provided favour against which he received donations.

The prosecutor said 240 kanals land had been transferred in the name of Farah Gogi. He said there was no existence of the trust at the time land was transferred in the name of Zulfi Bukhari.

He said that under the law any matter to be discussed in the cabinet would be circulated seven days before its discussion.

Imran says he will call overseas to halt remittances

Imran Khan, currently incarcerated in Adiala jail, has said that he would call overseas Pakistanis to halt remittances if the government failed to fulfil his two demands related to the release of his party’s workers and a judicial probe into May 9 and November 26 incidents.

Talking to reporters outside the Adiala Jail Rawalpindi on Tuesday, Khan’s sister Aleema Khan, while quoting her brother, said Khan delayed the call of halting remittances for a few days upon the recommendation of his party aides.

“If the government fails to fulfil our two demands, then he will make a call to overseas Pakistanis to stop sending remittances to the country,” she said, quoting Khan.