£190m NAB reference: Imran Khan, Bushra plead ‘not guilty’ after indictment

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: PTI founder chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were indicted by an accountability court in £190 million reference, also known as Al-Qadir Trust case, during hearing which was held at Adiala Jail on Tuesday. 

AC judge Nasir Javed Rana presided over the hearing and announced the charge sheet, summoning five witnesses on the next hearing on March 6.

Both Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi pleaded not guilty by outrightly rejected the charges levelled against them by the prosecution.

The Al-Qadir Trust case pertains to the settlement of 190 million pounds, about Rs50 billion, which the UK’s National Crime Agency sent to Pakistan after recovering the amount from Pakistani property tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain.

Being the prime minister then, Imran Khan, instead of depositing the money in the national treasury, allowed the businessman to use the amount to partly settle a fine of about Rs450 billion imposed by the Supreme Court some years ago.

The tycoon, in return, allegedly gifted about 57 acres of land to a trust set up by Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, to establish the Al-Qadir University in the Sohawa area of Jhelum district.

Malik Riaz, his son Ahmed Ali Riaz, Mirza Shehzad Akbar, and Zulfi Buk­hari are also among the suspects in the case, but instead of joining the investigation and subsequent court proceedings, they absconded and were subsequently dec­lared as proclaimed offenders.