An accountability court in Pakistan’s federal capital put off the announcement of its verdict in the £190 million National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) corruption reference against former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi. As per the new date, the verdict will be announced on January 6, 2025.
The corruption reference was filed on December 1, 2023, and the trial took place at a courtroom inside a Rawalpindi prison. The case involved 35 prosecution witnesses, all of whom were cross-examined by Imran’s legal team. Among those who testified against Khan were his former principal secretary, Azam Khan, and Pervez Khattak, a former defense minister in his government.
Final arguments in the trial concluded on December 18, 2024. Judge Nasir Javed Rana initially scheduled the verdict for December 23. However, speculation of a delay began to circulate a day before that, with sources later confirming that the court staff had informed Khan’s legal team of a postponement.
Today, Advocate Khalid Yousaf Chaudhry appeared in court as Judge Rana addressed the delay. “I’m still writing the judgment and will announce the next date in 10 minutes,” the judge remarked, noting that court holidays and a short training session would impact the schedule.
After nearly two hours, court staff officially announced the new date for the verdict, January 6, 2025.
What’s the case?
The case revolves around £190 million transferred to Pakistan by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA). Prosecutors allege Khan and Bushra Bibi illegally benefited from the funds through the Al-Qadir Trust.
The money, allegedly PKR 50 billion at the time, was part of a confidential settlement between the NCA and the family of Bahria Town’s Malik Riaz and was approved by Khan’s cabinet in December 2019. Investigators claim the latter provided 458 kanals of land to the former prime minister and his wife in exchange for legal cover.
In his written response, Khan denied any wrongdoing. He argued that the funds were transferred on the account holder’s instructions, not the government’s, and dismissed claims of financial loss to the state.
“The funds were part of a legal settlement with no involvement or benefit for me or my family,” Khan stated, and added that no facilitation was provided for the transfer of said funds in the account of Supreme Court of Pakistan.
“The same has been transferred by the relevant banks on the instructions of account holders after de-freezing of frozen accounts in the result of an out of court settlement between Malik Riaz’s family & NCA which is duly endorsed by Mashriq Bank in the Supreme Court of Pakistan but investigating officer of this case malafidely withheld the said documents and not annexed with the record,” he said.
“Government of Pakistan just undertook that the clauses of out of court settlement agreement between Malik Riaz family and NCA shall not be public and in this regard government of Pakistan has to sign a deed of confidentiality for which the then SAPM (Special Assistant to the Prime Minister) on accountability and interior was authorized by the cabinet on 03.12.2019 to sign the same after cabinet’s unanimous approval.”
He accused the ruling coalition and the former military establishment of conspiring to remove him from power in April 2022. Khan argued that the corruption charges are part of a broader effort to tarnish his political career and dismantle the PTI.
