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| Imran Khan with wife Bushra Bibi | Photo: AFP |
Pakistan ex-PM Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been convicted in the Al Qadir Trust corruption case. A court in the country has sentenced Imran to 14 years in prison and Bushra to 7 years in prison in the 190 million pound corruption case.
Justice Nasir Javed Rana announced the verdict on Friday in a temporary courtroom set up at Adiala Jail. The verdict was postponed three times before.
Meanwhile, along with the prison sentence, the court has also fined Imran and Bushra. Imran has been fined Rs 1 million and Bushra Rs 5 million. In default of payment of the fine, Imran will have to spend an additional six months in jail and Bushra will have to spend three months in jail.
Tight security arrangements were made outside Adiala Jail today to mark the verdict. Bushra was arrested from the courtroom after the verdict was announced.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan is lodged in Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail. He and Bushra Bibi were charged by Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the Al-Qadir Trust corruption case, alleging that they had embezzled £190 million. Imran was arrested in May 2023 in the case. Imran and Bushra were indicted in the case on February 27 last year, following the general elections.
The case alleges that Imran and Bushra took crores of rupees and a large amount of land from Bahria Town Limited. These transactions legitimized the Rs 5,000 crore the UK had returned to Pakistan during the previous PTI government led by Imran.
The verdict in the case was scheduled to be announced in the Accountability Court in Islamabad on December 23. However, the verdict was postponed until January 6 due to the winter vacation.
On January 6, the verdict was not announced even on that day as Justice Nasir Javed Rana was on vacation. Then, the date of the verdict was set for January 13. But the verdict was postponed on that day too, citing that Imran and Bushra could not appear in the courtroom set up at Adiala Jail. Finally, the verdict was announced today.
Imran lost the post of Prime Minister in a no-confidence vote in Parliament on April 9, 2022. He was later imprisoned in August 2023 in several cases. Imran claims that the charges against him are politically motivated. In the meantime, he was acquitted in the Cypher and Iddat cases last year. However, he was indicted in the Toshakhana-2 case last December. Several other cases are pending against him.
Earlier this month, Imran alleged that the verdict was being kept pending to put pressure on him. He called it a "fake case". Meanwhile, the PTI has been in talks with the government. On Thursday, they also presented their demands to the government.
On the same day, a meeting was held between Pakistan Army Chief Asim Munir and PTI leaders Ali Amin Gandapur and Barrister Gahar Ali. Both sides confirmed the meeting.