Legal woes deepen as Imran and Bushra convicted in £190m Al-Qadir Trust case
Former premier Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi on Friday were convicted in the £190m Al-Qadir Trust case with the PTI founder being sentenced to 14 years in prison and a seven-year jail term handed to his wife.
Judge Nasir Javed Rana announced the verdict — previously delayed three times — in a makeshift courtroom at Adiala Jail. The court also imposed fines on Imran and Bushra, amounting to Rs1 million and Rs500,000, respectively. Failure to pay the fines would result in an additional six months in jail for Imran and three months for Bushra, the court said.
According to the verdict, property of the “sham trust ‘Al-Qadir University Project Trust’ is hereby forfeited to the Federal Government within the meaning of Section 10(a) of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999”.
“Both the convicts are present before the Court, they be taken into custody in this case and be handed over to the Superintendent Jail along with the Committal Warrant to serve the sentences so awarded,” it added.
The verdict was announced amid tight security outside Adiala Jail, following which Bushra was arrested from the courtroom.
The couple was indicted in the case on Feb 27, 2024, shortly after the general elections.
The case alleges that Imran and Bushra obtained billions of rupees and land worth hundreds of kanals from Bahria Town Ltd for legalising Rs50 billion that was identified and returned to the country by the United Kingdom during the previous PTI government.
On December 23 — the original date the verdict was supposed to be announced — an Islamabad accountability court postponed its verdict in the case until Jan 6 due to winter vacations.
On January 6, the decision could not be pronounced as Judge Rana, who was to hear the case, was on leave. In the subsequent hearing on Jan 13, the judge cited the reason for the delay as Imran and Bushra’s failure to appear before his accountability court at the Adiala Jail.
Imran was incarcerated in August 2023 in a series of legal cases, which he claims were “politically motivated”. Last year, he was acquitted in the cipher and Iddat cases but was charged in the Toshakhana 2 case in December. He is also embroiled in a series of other cases.
Earlier this month, he had alleged that the verdict was being hung to put pressure on him, terming it a “bogus” case without merit. The PTI, meanwhile, has been engaged in talks with the government and presented its ‘charter of demands’ on Thursday to the government.
The same day, the issue of a meeting between Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir and PTI leaders Ali Amin Gandapur and Barrister Gohar Ali Khan was confirmed by both sides but with conflicting claims as to the nature of the discussions.
Imran rejects ‘deal’; PTI leaders condemn verdict
Speaking to reporters inside the courtroom after his conviction, Imran rejected the notion of entering a deal with anyone to get himself freed from prison.
“I will neither make any deal nor seek any relief,” he told reporters. “Those who stand against dictatorship are punished.”
PTI leaders, while speaking to reporters outside Adiala Jail, strongly denounced the verdict, terming it “unjust”, “shameful,” and a case of “political victimisation.”
Barrister Gohar said, “The behaviour of the court has been unjust. Khan sahib has not benefitted from a single rupee from this matter.”
Gohar went on to say that Imran was not the owner of the Al-Qadir University Project. “He is just a trustee. It is a tragedy that in a country that takes pride in holding conferences for women, a woman – who is a trustee of a philanthropic endeavour which would educate children – has been sentenced to seven years in prison. It is shameful.
“We want to tell the world: Khan sahib has done no wrong. He has committed no crime. He has reaped no benefit. He has misused no authority. He does not incur any criminal liability. This is a baseless and political victimisation case. It is nothing more than a political witchhunt. God willing this will go. Khan will not give up.”
PTI leader Omar Ayub questioned the justice system and asked why PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif’s son was not questioned about taking money outside of the country against the law.
“Hassan Nawaz should have been questioned about how he took money outside the country, that was used to buy [property] in Hyde Park, but nobody asks this question. We condemn this, and we will be challenging the verdict in superior courts,” he said.
PTI leader Shibli Faraz also criticised the verdict, and said, “While thieves are roaming freely, those who are innocent and honest, and on the path of righteousness, [are being punished].
“In this country, where neither the rule of law nor the supremacy of the constitution exists, those who have plundered the nation and dismantled its institutions are now deemed respectable,” he said.
“Meanwhile, the majority of Pakistanis either languish in jails or struggle with the burdens of life and rising inflation. They are consumed by these hardships. This is a black day, one we strongly condemn.”
PTI lawyer Faisal Chaudhry termed the decision “political use of NAB”.
“There was no evidence of monetary gain, crime proceed or financial corruption. This is a nonsense decision of a nonsense case.”
He added: “Today is a black day; today the public’s rights are being robbed, today is again another attempt at political target against Imran. Courts have not been able to protect citizens’ rights, nor give decisions according to the law.”
Meanwhile, PTI leaders and supporters staged a protest outside Parliament House, held placards, and chanted slogans, demanding Imran’s release.
Justice system domain of judges: law minister
Meanwhile, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, while holding a press conference flanked by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar, said that such decisions ultimately rest with the courts.
“The government believes that the justice system, as outlined in Article 175, falls within the purview of the judiciary,” he said.
Addressing the specifics of the Al-Qadir case, he said that the matter involved Malik Riaz’s family.
“As part of the settlement, the £190 million were included,” he said. “However, the law stipulates that even in settlements, confiscated amounts must remain within the country. This is in line with FATF practices and anti-money laundering laws,” he explained, adding that the principle was universally recognised to strengthen efforts against money laundering.
He also said that the PTI should have presented its arguments properly in court, stressing that it was the party’s right to do so. “They could have defended themselves in court rather than turning to the media, which would have been a better approach,” he added.
“If they were truthful, they would have been acquitted,” he remarked. “It was their choice not to present their arguments in court.”
The case
In December 2023, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a corruption reference against Imran and seven others, including his wife, in connection with the Al-Qadir University Trust.
The reference filed by NAB alleged that Imran, who is currently in jail, played a “pivotal role in the illicit transfer of funds meant for the state of Pakistan into an account designated for the payment of land by Bahria Town, Karachi”. It also claimed that despite being given multiple opportunities to justify and provide information, the accused deliberately, with mala fide intention, refused to give information on one pretext or another.
Property tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain and his son Ahmed Ali Riaz, Mirza Shehzad Akbar, and Zulfi Bukhari are also among the suspects in this reference, but instead of joining the investigation and subsequent court proceedings, they absconded and were subsequently declared proclaimed offenders (PO).
Farhat Shahzadi, a close friend of Imran’s spouse, and Ziaul Mustafa Nasim, a legal expert for the PTI government’s Assets Recovery Unit, were also declared POs. Subsequently, the properties of all six accused had been frozen.
As per the reference, Riaz’s son transferred 240 kanals of land to Shahzadi, while Bukhari received land under a trust, which NAB argued did not exist at the time of the transfer.
The prosecution further alleged that a trust was created only after the adjustment of £190m, raising doubts about its legitimacy and purpose.
In July 2024, Pervez Khattak, a key PTI leader back then who parted ways with the party in 2023 following the May 9 riots, testified before a court that he was a participant in the December 2019 meeting, where then-accountability adviser Mirza Shahzad Akbar produced a confidential deed in a sealed envelope for cabinet approval.
He said when he inquired about the document, Akbar said that it was an agreement of the Pakistani government with UK’s National Crime Agency for the refund of crime proceeds.
Days later, Azam Khan, Imran’s then-principal secretary, also testified that Akbar brought a note to seek the ex-PM’s approval to present the confidential deed in the cabinet meeting.
Zubaida Jalal, the minister of defence production in the PTI-led government, testified before a court that ministers were “kept in the dark” on the transfer of “crime proceeds” to Malik Riaz.