NAB files £190m reference against Imran, Bushra

Corruption case submitted in accountability court names eight accused, 59 witnesses

ISLAMABAD:

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday filed a £190 million corruption reference against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi, a close family friend Farah Gogi and others in the accountability court.

NAB Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi and Investigation Officer Mian Umar Nadeem submitted the reference against eight accused to the court’s Registrar's Office. The reference lists other accused as Shahzad Akbar, Barrister Ziaul Mustafa Naseem, and Zulfi Bukhari. Documents submitted include arrest warrants for the accused and a witness list comprising 59 individuals.

The reference accused the PTI chief and Akbar of collusion. It said that Akbar produced a misleading note on Dec 2, 2019 to show the account of the Supreme Court Registrar as the account of the state of Pakistan. It said that the PTI chairman, who was the prime minister at the time, was aware of the whole plan, as he had taken 458-kanal of land in 2019 that was transferred in the name of Zulfi Bukhari.

Read ECP may hold Imran’s contempt trial in jail

It added that when the land was given, the Al-Qadir Trust did not exist. In the reference, NAB had requested that the accused be tried and punished. The Registrar's Office started examining the reference, after which it would be presented before the Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir.

Meanwhile, the Special Court, established under Official Secrets Act (OSA), on Friday signalled to conclude the cipher case trial against the PTI chairman and Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi within four weeks following the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) instructions.

The court had fixed the next hearing of the case in Adiala Jail on Saturday (today) after it received the law ministry’s notification. However, the PTI chairman had challenged the order of Special Court Judge Abual Hasnat Zulqarnain for the jail trial.

In the petition, Imran said that Judge Zulqarnain on Nov 23, 2023 ordered for the production of the accused in the court at the Federal Judicial Complex on Nov 28. However, the authorities did not present him for the hearing and the judge ordered a jail trial on. He said that in the presence of the order of Nov 23, the judge’s order of Nov 28 was illegal.
The petitioner requested the court to implement the Special Court judge’s order issued on Nov 23 for producing the accused at the FJC.

Read NAB request for extension in Imran's physical remand in £190m case rejected

Meanwhile, according to the written order issued after the hearing of the cipher case on Friday, the accused, Imran and Qureshi, were not produced in the court. The court noted that the IHC has directed for completing the trial in four weeks.

At the outset of the hearing at the FJC, the court still awaited the law ministry’s notification. Judge Zulqarnain said that if the notification was not received, he would issue the production orders of the accused. However, the notification was submitted after a break.

The special prosecutor favoured the next hearing in Adiala Jail on Dec 2. However, Qureshi’s lawyer Ali Bukhari opined that it would be difficult for him to come on Saturdays because of the hearings in other trial courts. However, the judge ordered the next hearing of the case on Saturday (today).