An accountability court has decided to postpone a decision on the £190 million settlement case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi, sources claimed on Sunday.
Sources said Geo News The hearing of the case against the couple will be held tomorrow (Monday) in Islamabad Accountability Court instead of Adiala Jail, where the former Prime Minister is imprisoned.
Meanwhile, PTI’s legal team has also been apprised of the developments as accountability will give a new date for the announcement of the verdict tomorrow. He said that the decision will be announced in the first week of January 2025.
On December 18, Accountability Court Judge Nasir Javed Rana had reserved the verdict in the case after the final arguments of PTI founder Khan and his wife’s lawyers were completed. The jailed former prime minister and former first lady were charged in a high-profile corruption case on February 27 last year.
During the year-long trial, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) recorded the testimonies of 35 witnesses, including former Principal Secretary Azam Khan, former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and former federal minister Zubaidah Jalal.
The 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician has been behind bars since August last year after being convicted in Case-1 – one of dozens of cases filed against the former prime minister since he was ousted from power in April 2022. .
What is the £190 million case?
NAB had filed a reference against Khan, Bushra and others in December 2023. The pair are facing an inquiry into a collusion between the PTI government and a property tycoon, which allegedly cost the national exchequer £190 million.
According to the charges in the case, Imran and the other accused allegedly diverted 50 billion rupees – £190 million at the time – to the Pakistani government from Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) in a deal with a property tycoon. adjusted to
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 PTI founder and his wife acquired land worth billions of rupees from a property tycoon to build an educational institution, in return for providing legal protection to the property tycoon’s UK crime-related black money. An agreement was made. Agency
Later, a few weeks after the PTI-led government approved the deal with the property tycoon, Al-Qadir Trust was set up in Islamabad.