Court reserves verdict in £190m case against Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi

An accountability court in Rawalpindi reserved its verdict on Wednesday in the high-profile £190 million settlement case involving PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi.

The decision follows the conclusion of final arguments from their defense counsels, while the prosecution had completed its arguments a day earlier.

Judge Nasir Javed Rana announced that the verdict would be delivered on December 23.

The case stems from an inquiry by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) into a settlement between the PTI government and a property tycoon, which allegedly caused a £190 million loss to Pakistan's national exchequer.

Khan, Bushra Bibi, and others are accused of facilitating the adjustment of the seized £190 million, which had been sent by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Pakistani government as part of the settlement.

Bushra Bibi, who was a trustee of the Al-Qadir Trust, was named an accused in the case. The couple is also accused of receiving undue benefits, including over 458 kanals of land in Mouza Bakrala, Sohawa, for the establishment of Al Qadir University.

The NAB filed the reference in December 2023, and during the one-year-long trial, 35 witnesses, including former principal secretary Azam Khan, ex-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Pervez Khattak, and former federal minister Zubaida Jalal, testified in court.

The NCA had seized the £190 million worth of assets from the property tycoon in the UK during the PTI government’s tenure.

However, the UK agency clarified that the settlement was a civil matter and did not constitute a finding of guilt.

In 2019, Khan's government approved the settlement with the UK crime agency, with the details kept confidential. The decision was made without disclosing specifics to the public.

A few weeks later, the Al-Qadir Trust was established in Islamabad, shortly after the PTI-led government's approval of the agreement.