Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison in connection with the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust case. His wife, Bushra Bibi, has also been handed a 7-year jail term.
Bushra Bibi was arrested at Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi, where Khan has been jailed since August 2023. She was there to hear the court’s decision.The case involves allegations of misuse of authority and corruption linked to Imran Khan's Al-Qadir University Project Trust.
Both Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were formally charged on February 27, 2024, shortly after the contentious general elections. Imran Khan was arrested in August 2023 in connection with several legal cases, which he has described as “politically motivated.”
In 2024, Khan was acquitted in the Cipher and Iddat cases but was hit with new charges in December related to the Toshakhana 2 case.
The Al-Qadir Trust Case
The case was filed by Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB), accusing Imran Khan of playing a major role in illegally transferring money that was meant for the country. Instead of going to the state, the funds were allegedly sent to an account linked to land payments for Bahria Town Karachi.
The case claims that Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, received billions of rupees and large amounts of land from Bahria Town Ltd in exchange for helping to legalize 50 billion rupees that had been identified and returned to Pakistan by the UK during the previous government.
The verdict, which was originally set for December 23, was delayed to January 6 because of the winter holidays. NAB said that Khan had multiple chances to explain his actions but deliberately avoided providing details, refusing to cooperate on various excuses.
Other suspects in the case include property tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain, his son Ahmed Ali Riaz, Mirza Shehzad Akbar, and Zulfi Bukhari. However, they did not participate in the investigation or attend the court hearings. As a result, they fled and were declared proclaimed offenders (PO), meaning they were wanted by the authorities.