Imran ‘hoisted with own petard’ in corruption case – Pakistan

• Judge finds ex-PM, his wife guilty of corrupt practices in long-awaited verdict of £190 million Al-Qadir Trust case
• PTI founder gets 14, Bushra 7 years under NAB law as court finds ‘no mitigating circumstances’
• Al-Qadir University property forfeited to federal govt

ISLAMABAD: After multiple delays and postponements, an accountability court in the capital finally convicted former prime minister Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust corruption case, sentencing both to prison.

The verdict, announced by Judge Nasir Javed Rana in the makeshift courtroom at Adiala Jail on Friday, marks the first conviction for the former PM and PTI founder in a corruption matter, as his earlier convictions in the cipher, iddat and Toshakhana cases did not involve allegations of corruption.

“The accused Imran Ahmed Khan is hereby held guilty for commission of offence of corruption and corrupt practices as defined under section 9… of the National Accountability Ordi­nance… He is hereby convicted. There is no mitigating circumstances (sic). He is sentenced under section 10 (a) of the NAO to undergo rigorous imprisonment for 14 years,” the verdict said.

The judge also imposed Rs1 million fine on Mr Khan, and sentenced his wife Bushra Bibi to seven years rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs500,000.

In case they were unable to pay the fine, the court warned them of another six and 3 months in prison, respectively.

As per the verdict, the “property of the sham… Al-Qadir University Project Trust” is hereby forfeited to the federal government.

The other accused, namely Bahria Town owner Malik Riaz Hussain, his son Ahmed Ali Riaz Malik, former accountability czar Mirza Shahzad Akbar, former PM’s aide Zulfi Bukhari, Farhat Shahzadi and Ziaul Mustafa Nasim have already been declared proclaimed offenders and perpetual warrants for their arrest and the confiscation of their properties has been ordered.

The detailed verdict, spanning 148 pages, recalled that the Supreme Court had held that the grant of land by the Sindh Board of Revenue (SBR) to the Malir Development Authority (MDA), and the MDA’s subsequent exchange of the land with the Bahria Town (Pvt) Limited were all illegal and a result of collusion amongst all the stakeholders.

Subsequently, Bahria Town agreed to pay a total sum of Rs460 billion for the land. The verdict said that funds from foreign bank accounts, previously frozen by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), were repatriated to settle the liabilities of Bahria Town instead of being added to the national kitty.

The court also noted that 458 kanals of land was transferred in April 2019 to the non-existent the Al­-Qadir University Project Trust through Zulfi Bukhari.

The court found that Mr Khan gave a nod to the confidential deed for illegal transfer of funds to settle Bahria Town’s liability.

The verdict states: “It is established by the prosecution evidence that accused Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi, the then Prime Minister, dishonestly instructed for placing the said note as additional agenda without prior circulation in violation of the provisions of the Rules of Business, 1973, despite the fact that co-accused Mirza Shahzad Akbar (Since PO), with his connivance and under his influence, had already dishonestly and for ulterior motives signed and submitted the Confidentiality Deed with the National Crime Agency UK on 06.11.2019, which was also signed as a witness by the co-accused Zia ul Mustafa Nasim (since PO).”

The verdict referred to the testimony of former minister Zubaida Jalal, who testified that she participated in the cabinet meeting.

During the meeting, she said, Mr Akbar presented a sealed envelope as an additional agenda item and briefed the meeting that £190m was “illegally transferred to the UK”.

When the cabinet wanted to deliberate on this issue, Mr Akbar “insisted that due to the confidentiality of the matter, we should approve this agenda without deliberation and discussion”.

She claimed that Mr Akbar told the meeting that the money will be “repatriated to the government” and that cabinet members approved the agenda “in good faith”.

Likewise, former KP CM Pervaiz Khattak also testified that Mr Akbar had produced a confidential deed in a sealed envelope for cabinet approval, claiming that it was an agreement between the Pakistani government and NCA for the refund of crime proceeds.

According to the former chief minister, some cabinet members had asked Mr Akbar to disclose the document, but he refused to do so despite their insistence, saying that the deed was confidential.

To substantiate its allegations against the former premier, the prosecution submitted the evidence related to the revenue record of the land and an evaluation report of equipment procured for the university, the record of Banigala land purchased and transferred in the name of Farhat Shahzadi by Malik Riaz’s son, minutes of the cabinet meeting, a confidentiality deed, the Foreign Ministry’s correspondence with the NCA, and so on.

The court also noted that the entry register of Mr Khan’s Banigala residence reflected that “[Mr] Akbar and Malik Riaz visited the house of Imran Khan on July 11, 2019 materialising the under hand dealings of their mutual interests on the basis of quid pro quo”.

It added that the statement of former principal secretary Azam Khan corroborated the allegation of “underhand dealing”.

The judgement also pointed out that Mr Khan removed Babar Awan and Zulfi Bukhari from the list of trustees after Malik Riaz funded the university.

The verdict states that “it can be safely concluded that the prosecution has successfully proved its case against both the accused lmran Ahmed Khan and Bushra lmran, through the production of cogent, credible, coherent, irrebuttable, reliable and confidence inspiring evidence”.

The verdict ordered that they “be taken into custody in this case and be handed over to the superintendent jail… to serve the sentences so awarded”.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2025