Islamabad (Web Desk): The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday filed a corruption reference against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former premier Imran Khan, his wife and other suspects in the £190 million settlement case.
According to details, A total of eight people have been nominated in the case.
Others beside Imran include his wife, Bushra Bibi, her friend Farhat Shahzadi aka Farah Gogi, PTI leader Zulfi Bukhari, former special assistants to the prime minister (SAPM) Mirza Shahzad Akbar and legal expert for the PTI government’s Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) Barrister Zia-ul-Mustafa Naseem.
The filing of the reference comes days after the federal cabinet gave the go-ahead to conduct the jail trial of the PTI chairman in corruption cases.
The reference comes as the anti-graft watchdog concludes its investigation with the court sending the PTI chief on judicial remand in the case.
On November 27, 2023, accountability court judge Muhammad Bashir rejected NAB's request for extending Imran Khan’s physical remand in the case.
The court instead, sent the PTI chairman on a 14-day judicial remand.
At the previous hearing, on November 24, 2023, the judge had instructed NAB to conclude its investigation and present a report.
Imran Khan, along with his wife Bushra Bibi and other PTI leaders, are facing a NAB inquiry related to a settlement between the PTI government and the property tycoon, which reportedly caused a loss of £190 million to the national exchequer.
As per the charges, Khan and other accused allegedly adjusted Rs50 billion, £190 million at the time, sent by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Pakistani government as part of the agreement with the property tycoon.
They are also accused of getting undue benefit in the form of over 458 kanals of land at Mouza Bakrala, Sohawa, to establish Al Qadir University.
During the PTI government, the NCA seized assets worth 190 million pounds from the property tycoon in Britain.
The agency said the assets would be passed to the government of Pakistan and the settlement with the Pakistani property tycoon was “a civil matter, and does not represent a finding of guilt”.
Later, then-prime minister Khan got approval for the settlement with the UK crime agency from his cabinet on December 3, 2019, without disclosing the details of the confidential agreement.
It was decided that the money would be submitted to the Supreme Court on behalf of the tycoon.
Subsequently, the Al-Qadir Trust was established in Islamabad a few weeks after the PTI-led government approved the agreement with the property tycoon.
Zulfi Bukhari, Babar Awan, Bushra Bibi, and her close friend Farah Khan were appointed as members of the trust.
Two to three months after the cabinet’s approval, the property tycoon transferred 458 canals of land to Bukhari, a close aide of the PTI chief, which he later transferred to the trust.
Later, Bukhari and Awan opted out as the trustees. That trust is now registered in the name of Khan, Bushra Bibi and Farah.
It is pertinent to mention that the Supreme Court on Nov 23 had ordered that an amount of Rs35 billion, which was remitted to the apex court’s bank accounts maintained in the name of the SC registrar, in the Bahria Town settlement, be transferred to the federal government.