Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan sentenced to 14 years in jail

By Tahir Naseer, Pakistan, Jan 17 (DAWN): 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 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 Bibi 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 Nasir Javed Rana, who heard 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.

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.

PTI leaders condemn verdict

Reacting to the verdict, PTI leader Omar Ayub told reporters outside the parliament that, “Hassan Nawaz (the son of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif) should have been questioned about how did he take 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,” Ayub said.

PTI leader Shibli Faraz also condemned the verdict and said, “While thieves are roaming freely, those who are innocent and honest, and on the path of righteousness, [are being punished].”

Meanwhile, Barrister Gohar said, “The behaviour of the court has been unjust. Khan sahib has not benefitted from a single rupee from this matter.”

He added: “Witnesses admitted that the money was not from illegal proceeds [and that] Khan sahib did not benefit from it.”

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.”

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.