£190m case: Imran, Bushra's counsel seeking adjournment of May 7 hearing

In a plea to the Islamabad High Court (IHC), Barrister Salman Safdar, counsel for former prime minister Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi, requested an adjournment of their main appeals in the £190 million corruption case, citing difficulties in securing proper instructions from their clients due to a lack of access at Adiala jail.

Imran's counsel stated that their involvement had thus far been limited to handling applications for the suspension of sentences, with no formal engagement in the main appeals, as the necessary Powers of Attorney had not been signed by their clients.

In a request for adjournment, the lawyers explained that despite numerous attempts, they were unable to meet with Imran and Bushra Bibi for the purpose of obtaining instructions or executing Powers of Attorney. The lack of cooperation from the authorities at Adiala jail, where the clients were currently held, had led to this ongoing issue.

The counsel urged the court to issue strict directives to the authorities at Adiala jail to facilitate meetings with the clients.

"It is most respectfully prayed that this Hon’ble Court may kindly issue appropriate and strict directions to the authorities at Adiala to redress the grievance of the learned counsels by facilitating meetings with the clients for the purpose of seeking instructions and procuring Powers of Attorney," the plea stated.

The plea further asked the court to consider an adjournment of the main appeals, which were scheduled for May 7, in light of the challenges in securing the necessary documents for representation.

£190 million case

In January last year, an Islamabad accountability court sentenced Imran to 14 years and Bushra Bibi to seven years in prison in the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The IHC is currently hearing appeals seeking suspension of these sentences.

The £190m case pertains to allegations linked to the Al-Qadir Trust, a welfare organisation established in 2018. The trust, which runs a university outside Islamabad, is accused of being used as a front to receive land worth millions of dollars from a real estate tycoon.

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According to the government, the donations were made in exchange for the former premier’s administration using repatriated funds from the United Kingdom to pay fines on behalf of the businessman instead of depositing the amount into the national exchequer. Imran has denied the allegations, maintaining that neither he nor his wife derived any financial benefit from the trust or related transactions.

In a separate development, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) submitted a challan in court against the PTI founder and others in the prohibited funding case.

Officials said the challan was filed with Registrar Abdul Wahab of the Special Court (Commercial Banking Circle), Islamabad. The registrar’s office will forward the challan to the court after completing the scrutiny process, following which the case will be fixed for regular hearing.

The PTI founder and other accused have been nominated in the case and face allegations of foreign funding and financial irregularities.