£190m case: Court defers decision on Bushra Bibi's acquittal till final verdict

RAWALPINDI: An accountability court on Thursday deferred announcing its reserved verdict on PTI founder Imran Khan's wife Bushra Bibi acquittal plea till its final ruling on the £190 million settlement case.

A day earlier, accountability court Judge Nasir Javed Rana reserved the verdict on the former first lady acquittal's petition and the court was expected to announce the judgment today 

The duo are accused of causing billions of rupees loss to the national exchequer in a case also involving a property tycoon.

However, after the court resumed the hearing in the reference — also known as £190 National Crime Agency (NCA) scandal — against the former prime minister and ex-first lady at a makeshift court in Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail, the judge decided to defer the decision till the final verdict on the matter.

The hearing was also attended by the couple who were produced in the courtroom and were represented by their lawyers Zaheer Abbas Chaudhry and Usman Riaz Gul.

NAB Prosecutor General Sardar Mazhar Abbasi and Amjad Parvez along with their team were also present.

The defence lawyers cross-examined the NAB Investigation Officer Mian Umar Nadeem and the cross-examination of the anti-corruption watchdog official will be resumed at the next hearing.

The hearing of the case has been adjourned till September 7 (Saturday).

In the previous hearing, the cross-examination of the NAB IO could not be held due to the absence of the PTI founder's lawyer. However, Bushra's lawyer Gul continued arguments on her acquittal yesterday.

Subsequently, the court had also declared the contempt petition against the NAB chairman ineffective, stating that arguments on the plea for acquittal rendered the contempt petition irrelevant.

The couple had secured post-arrest bail from the accountability court in the same case in early July, however, they remained imprisoned due to the iddat case — also known as the un-Islamic nikah case — at that time.

Later, the duo was acquitted in the iddat case on July 13 but they got arrested in a new Toshakhana reference filed by the anti-graft watchdog.

The former first lady was first arrested in January this year and kept under house arrest at her residence in Bani Gala after she along with Khan were convicted in the infamous Toshakhana case related to the illegal sale of state gifts.

The duo's sentence in the reference was suspended by the IHC in April.

Later, she was shifted to Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail in May after the IHC approved her plea challenging the house arrest.

In July, Imran and Bushra were acquitted by a district and sessions court in the iddat case.

However, Bushra remains behind bars in other cases including the £190m NCA scandal and a fresh Tohshakhana reference pertaining to a jewellery set gifted by the Saudi crown prince.

The 71-year-old cricketer-turned-politician has also been in prison for more than a year after he was booked in plethora of cases, including the Toshakhana case, cipher case, and the un-Islamic marriage case.

Despite securing relief in several cases, the PTI founder remains behind bars after he was booked in new Toshakhana reference and other cases related to May 9 mayhem.

What is £190 million settlement case?

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.

Subsequently, 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.

According to the NAB officials, Khan and his wife obtained land worth billions of rupees from the property tycoon, to build an educational institute, in return for striking a deal to give legal cover to the property tycoon's black money received from the UK crime agency.