Islamabad:
An Islamabad court on Monday postponed its verdict in the GBP 190 million Al-Qadir Trust corruption case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi, Dawn reported.
The court had reserved the verdict on December 18 and said it would be announced on December 23. While presiding over the hearing today, Justice Nasir Javed Rana said, “The verdict will not be announced today; [winter] The holidays are coming and there is also a course at the Supreme Court,” the Dawn report said.
The winter court holiday starts tomorrow and will last until January 1. The judge made the announcement after former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's lawyer Khalid Chaudhry said his team expected the verdict today. Justice Rana stated that the new date for announcing the verdict would be announced soon.
The PTI founder and his wife were charged in the case on February 27. The case alleges that Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi received billions of rupees and hundreds of kanals of land from Bahria Town Ltd for legalizing Pakistani Rupees (PKR), an amount of 50 billion which was identified and acquired by Britain during the previous PTI government sent back to Pakistan.
In December, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had registered a corruption case against PTI and seven others, including his wife, in connection with Al-Qadir University Trust.
The case filed by NAB alleged that Imran Kjhan played a “crucial role in the illegal transfer of money meant for the State of Pakistan to an account designated for payment of land by Bahria Town, Karachi”. It also alleged that despite being deliberately given multiple opportunities, with malicious intent, the suspect did not share information under any pretext.
The suspects in the referral include real estate tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain and his son Ahmed Ali Riaz, Mirza Shehzad Akbar and Zulfi Bukhari. However, instead of cooperating with the investigation and subsequent legal proceedings, they went into hiding and were subsequently declared offenders, Dawn reports.
Farhat Shahzadi, a close friend of Bushra Bibi, and Ziaul Mustafa Nasim, a legal expert for the PTI government's Assets Recovery Unit, were also declared POs. The properties of all six suspects were frozen.
While testifying before the accountability court on December 10, Imran Khan denied the allegations of corruption, calling them “politically motivated” orchestrated by his opponents, allegedly with the support of state institutions. He further said, “My political rivals have weaponized institutions to suppress dissent and curb democracy.”
Imran Khan has been lodged in Adiala Jail since his arrest last year on various charges. After his arrest in 2023, PTI's ties with the government and establishment have been strained. Since his arrest, the PTI has held several protests over the past year calling for his release, most of which escalated into violence after facing state repression.
Following the PTI's power show in November, tensions rose as there were renewed calls to ban Imran Khan's party and task forces were set up against an alleged 'malicious campaign', with the PTI claiming dozens of party supporters were killed during the march killed, which was denied by the PTI. government, Dawn reported.
After Imran Khan constituted a five-member committee to hold talks, the government reciprocated by forming its own negotiating committee, comprising members of the ruling coalition. The two sides are expected to meet today where they are expected to discuss their demands.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)