Senator Faisal Vawda on Sunday claimed that the punishment of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust reference was inevitable and he termed the mega corruption scandal as an “open and shut case”.
His remarks came at a time when an accountability court in Rawalpindi gave its eagerly awaited hearing on Monday (today) in the £190 million case against PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi. The decision is about to be announced. Judge Nasir Javed Rana will pronounce the verdict of the case at 11 am in Adiala Jail.
Addressing a press conference in Karachi, Vawda remarked: “The £190 million reference is an open-and-shut case. The PTI founder committed a crime and will face punishment.”
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.
The senator revealed that when Khan was signing it, I had warned him that it would lead to a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) case. In a fresh dig at his former party boss, Vavda said: “Being popular doesn’t mean you are above everything.”
Without naming anyone, he alleged that Khan’s close associates conspired to kill him.
Praising the army, Vawda, who is known for his close ties with the establishment, praised the unprecedented sacrifices of the security forces to restore peace in the country.
Dismissing the rumours, he asserted that there was no external pressure or backdoor dialogue between the former ruling party and the establishment at the time.
He urged the PTI to show sincerity in the negotiations with the coalition government.
Responding to a question, Vawda said: “There is good news for Pakistan’s economy. The country will benefit from the backdoor diplomacy of Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir.
He added that something good is going to happen from Monday. Without elaborating, the senator noted that the government intended to announce the news and said he would let them take credit.
It is worth noting that the judgment of the 190 million pound case against the jailed former prime minister and his spouse has been delayed several times due to various reasons.
The verdict was recently postponed to January 6 due to the judge being on vacation.
What is Al Qadir Trust Case?
The anti-corruption watchdog had filed a reference in December 2023 against Khan, Bushra and others on 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 property tycoon’s black money. .
Later, a few weeks after the PTI-led government approved the deal with the property tycoon, Al-Qadir Trust was set up in Islamabad.
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 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-Qadir 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.