Islamabad, Jan 17: A Pakistan court on Friday sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to 14 and seven years in prison respectively after finding them guilty of corruption in the 190 million pounds al-Qadir Trust case.
Judge Nasir Javed Rana of the anti-corruption court announced the verdict that had been deferred thrice due to different reasons, last time on January 13.
The judge announced the verdict in a makeshift court set up in Adila jail.
Besides jail sentences, Khan was fined Rs 1 million and Bushra Bibi half a million rupees. Failure to pay the fine will entail an additional six months of imprisonment for Khan and three months for Bibi. The court also ordered the confiscation of the land of Al-Qadir University set up by them.
Khan is already in jail while Bushra was arrested from the court.
“Today’s verdict has tarnished the reputation of the judiciary In this case, neither I benefited nor the government lost. I don’t want any relief and will face all cases,” Khan was quoted as saying by his party.
“A dictator is doing all this,” he said.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in December 2023 filed the case against Khan (72), Bibi (50) and six others, accusing them of causing a loss to the tune of 190 million pounds (PRs50 billion) to the national kitty.
Only Khan and Bibi have been prosecuted in the case as all others, including a property tycoon, were out of the country.
The case revolves around allegations that an amount of PRs50 billion, returned to Pakistan by the UK’s National Crime Agency as part of a settlement with a property tycoon, was misused.
The funds were reportedly intended for the national treasury but were allegedly redirected for the personal benefit of the businessman who helped Bibi and Khan to set up a university.
Bibi, as a trustee of the Al-Qadir Trust, is accused of benefiting from this settlement, including acquiring 458 kanals of land for Al-Qadir University in Jhelum.
Judge Rana concluded the hearing in the case on December 18 but reserved the judgment until December 23. Later, he fixed January 6 as the date for announcing the verdict, Geo News reported.
He was on leave on January 6 so the verdict was postponed until January 13.
But the verdict was once again deferred as the accused and their lawyers were not present in the court on January 13.
The judgment comes amidst the ongoing negotiation between the government and Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to address the political instability in the country due to the imprisonment of Khan and several other leaders of his party.
So far three rounds of talks have been held and the PTI has presented its charter of demands in writing to the government.
Khan is facing dozens of cases after his ouster as prime minister in 2022.
He has been jailed since August 2023. (PTI)
