Court orders seizure of Zulfi Bukhari’s properties in £190m corruption case

An accountability court in Islamabad has ordered the seizure of properties belonging to Zulfi Bukhari, a close associate of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding leader Imran Khan and an absconder in the £190 million corruption case.

The decision was issued by Judge Nisar Javed Rana after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) submitted a request to confiscate Bukhari's assets.

The court has ordered the seizure of a 30-kanal plot owned by Bukhari, along with another four-kanal plot in Islamabad.

Additionally, the court ruled that Bukhari's 1,210-kanal property in the Attock district, including a 91-kanal plot, be confiscated by the state.

Zulfi Bukhari, who has been declared an absconder in the high-profile case, remains at large.

The authorities continue to pursue further legal actions against him, as the case unfolds under the scrutiny of anti-corruption efforts in Pakistan.

On September 1, the accountability watchdog filed a petition in an accountability court to seek the seizure of properties owned by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Zulfi Bukhari.

According to the petition, Bukhari has been declared a proclaimed offender by the court, prompting the request for the confiscation of his assets. These include 34 kanals of land in Islamabad and 1,300 kanals in Attock.

This legal action is part of the broader proceedings related to the £190 million case, which also implicates PTI founding chairperson Imran, his wife Bushra Bibi, Farah Gogi, and Shehzad Akbar.

Notably, Farah Gogi and Shehzad Akbar, like Zulfi Bukhari, have not appeared before the court in this case.

An accountability court on Thursday rejected the petitions of former premier Imran Khan and his spouse, Bushra Bibi, seeking acquittal in the £190 million corruption case under the amended National Accountability Ordinance of 1999.

Imran claimed that the case against him, filed under the amended National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), was based on a federal cabinet meeting, and the law protects decisions made by the cabinet.

“Despite being fully aware that the case does not fall within the ambit of the NAO, NAB exceeded its jurisdiction and filed a false and frivolous reference, alleging that the applicant, as prime minister of Pakistan, chaired the cabinet meeting held on Dec 3, 2019, during which a deed of confidentiality was approved,” the petition, filed by the PTI founding chairman, stated.

The petition further alleged that NAB had accused Khan of misusing his authority to approve the deed, in exchange for approximately 458 kanals of land in Sohawa, Jhelum district, Rs285 million in cash, and other benefits, all under the pretext of donations for the Al-Qadir University Project Trust.

“Additionally, it is alleged that the applicant and his spouse, through their associate Farhat Shehzadi, received 240 kanals of land from co-accused Ahmad Ali Riaz Malik as compensation for personal gain,” the petition continued.

“Thus, the accused/applicant, as a public officeholder, is accused of misusing his authority for personal gain for himself and his wife in the form of donations and other benefits.”

The NAB prosecution argued that the ex-prime minister had misled the cabinet to secure approval for the confidential deed, concealing the facts from the cabinet members and pressuring them into approving the sealed document.

The petition was subsequently dismissed by Accountability Judge Nasir Javed Rana.