Islamabad’s Accountability Court staff confirmed on Monday that the verdict in the £190 million case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan will be delivered on January 13.
Referring to the leave of Judge Nasir Javed Rana, the court staff said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor as well as PTI’s counsel have been informed of the decision to postpone the verdict.
This is the second time that the judgment — reserved for December 18 — in the said case, also known as the Al-Qadir Trust case, has been postponed, as it was earlier to be announced on December 23 but was delayed. It was later postponed. by the court.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has accused the former prime minister along with his wife Bushra and others of defrauding the national exchequer of 190 million pounds through the settlement between the PTI government and property tycoons.
The said case is part of the plethora of legal challenges facing the jailed PTI founder who has been behind bars since August last year after being convicted in Tosha Khana Case-I.
What is the matter?
The anti-corruption watchdog had filed a reference against Khan, Bushra and others in December 2023 over the alleged settlement.
According to the charges in the case, Khan and the other accused allegedly stole 50 billion rupees from the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Pakistani government as part of a deal with a property tycoon – at the time £ 190 million adjusted.
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.
The test
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 filing the NAB reference on December 1, 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 prime minister in the £190 million reference, while the trial court granted Bushra’s pre-arrest bail.
The founder chairman of PTI submitted a list of 16 witnesses in 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.
This is a developing story and will be updated with more details.