Rawalpindi: The Accountability Court is likely to pronounce the decision of the 190 million pounds case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi tomorrow (Friday).
The verdict — reserved for December 18, 2024 — will be delivered by Accountability Court Judge Nasir Javed at 11:30 am tomorrow at a temporary court in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail for which court staff informed the PTI founder’s lawyers. is
The said case is part of the plethora of legal challenges facing the PTI founder, who has been behind bars for over a year after being convicted in Tosha Khana Case-I.
The previous hearing was adjourned without unveiling the verdict after the judge expressed displeasure at the accused’s non-appearance, leading to a postponement of the verdict till January 17.
Khan had earlier claimed that the decision – initially postponed to 23 December 2024, and then to 6 January 2025 – was postponed to “put pressure on him”. However, he did not appear at the previous hearing on January 13, while no one was present from the defence.
Al-Qadir Trust Case
The pair, among others, were accused by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in its December 2023 reference of 50 billion rupees – at the time £190 million – sent to the Pakistani government by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA). Allegedly adjusted. Part of the deal with the property tycoon.
Subsequently, the then Prime Minister approved the settlement with the UK Crime Agency from his Cabinet on 3 December 2019, without disclosing details of the secret agreement.
It was decided that the money would be deposited in the Supreme Court on behalf of the tycoon.
According to NAB officials, the founder of PTI and his wife acquired land worth billions of rupees from a property tycoon to build an educational institution, in return for which an agreement was signed to provide legal protection to the black money of the property tycoon. .
Later, a few weeks after the PTI-led government approved the deal with the property tycoon, Al-Qadir Trust was set up in Islamabad.
Over a year long trial
The accountability watchdog had arrested the founder of PTI on November 13 last year in connection with the said case. After that NAB interrogated Khan and Bushra in Adiala Jail for 17 days.
After the NAB reference was filed in December 2023, the trial began. On February 27, 2024, charges were formally laid against the couple.
Notable witnesses against the PTI founder included his former cabinet member Pervez Khattak, former federal minister Zubaidah Jalal, former principal secretary Azam Khan and the chief financial officer of Al-Qadri University.
The court declared 6 co-accused, including Zulfi Bukhari, Farhat Shahzadi, Mirza Shahzad Akbar and Zia-ul-Mustafa Naseem as fugitives, and ordered the freezing of their assets and bank accounts.
During the proceedings, the Islamabad High Court granted bail to the disqualified former prime minister in the £190 million reference, while the trial court granted pre-arrest bail to Bushra.
The PTI founder submitted a list of 16 witnesses to the court, but the request to summon them was rejected.
During the course of the case, four judges were replaced with Judge Muhammad Bashir, Judge Nasir Javed Rana, Judge Muhammad Ali Waraich, and then again Judge Rana presiding over the hearings.