IHC gives Imran final opportunity to argue £190m case appeals

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday granted a final opportunity to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to present arguments in their appeals against their convictions in the £190 million case, warning that it will decide the appeals based on the available record if their counsel fails to proceed at the next hearing.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif accepted a request to adjourn the appeals after defence counsel Sardar Latif Khosa undertook to present arguments at the next hearing.

The order noted that Khosa, whose power of attorney on behalf of Imran and Bushra Bibi is already on record, gave a clear undertaking that he would not seek any further adjournment and would argue the appeals at the next hearing.

The bench said the case was being adjourned solely based on that undertaking and stressed that this was the final opportunity being granted to the appellants.

They warned that if arguments were not presented at the next hearing, no further adjournment would be granted. Instead, the court would hear the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and decide the appeals on the basis of the available record.

Further proceedings in the appeals were adjourned indefinitely.

Imran and Bushra Bibi remain incarcerated in Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail. They were sentenced on December 20, 2025, to 17 years in prison in the Toshakhana-II case, which pertains to allegations that the couple unlawfully retained a Bulgari jewellery set gifted by the Saudi crown prince during an official visit to Saudi Arabia.

Imran has been in custody since August 2023, serving a sentence in a £190 million corruption case. He also faces pending trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act in connection with protests on May 9, 2023.

£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.

Read More: £190m case: Imran's lawyer requests IHC to summon IG prisons, hospital authorities with record

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.

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.