On Tuesday (27th February), a Pakistani court accused former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his third wife Bushra Bibi on allegations of receiving land as a bribe by misusing his power while he was prime minister, according to his party.
The fresh allegations come after a succession of convictions against Khan in the months running up to the February 8 national election, in which his supporters won the most seats overall.
Khan, 71, has been in custody since August in connection to other cases and has previously rejected the charges.
He had previously been convicted in four cases, receiving terms of up to 14 years in jail, including two on graft charges that barred him from participating in politics for a decade.
Details of the case
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has launched an inquiry into Khan, his wife, and others for allegedly acquiring hundreds of canals of land under the name Al Qadir University Trust, leading in a reported loss of 190 million pounds to the exchequer.
During the hearing, the court announced that the testimonies of 58 witnesses will be recorded in the matter.
The hearing was delayed to March 6, and the judge ordered five NAB witnesses to attend.
Bushra, 49, has been imprisoned at Khan’s Bani Gala home in Islamabad after an accountability court condemned the couple to 14 years in prison in the Toshakhana corruption case.
The Al-Qadir Trust case involves a 190-million-pound settlement handed to Pakistan by the UK’s National Crime Agency after the sum was recovered from Pakistani property tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain.
During Khan’s tenure as prime minister, he authorised the businessman to utilise the funds to partially satisfy a ₹ 450 billion sentence issued by the Supreme Court a few years ago.
In exchange, the tycoon allegedly donated around 57 acres of land to a trust established by Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, to construct the Al-Qadir University in the Sohawa region of the Jhelum district of Punjab.
Elections 2024
Candidates supported by the PTI won the most seats in parliament in the election earlier this month, defying all odds and what the party claims was a military-backed crackdown. After his party was forbidden from contesting the election, his followers campaigned as independents rather than as a united bloc.
However, his opposing parties, led by the Sharif and Bhutto families, formed a minority coalition government.
The most recent charge concerns Al-Qadir Trust, a non-governmental humanitarian organisation founded by Khan and his third wife Bushra Bibi in 2018 while he was still in power.
Imran Khan’s recent allegation
Prosecutors claim Khan used the trust to receive a valuable 60 acres (24 hectares) of land in a district outside Islamabad, as well as another large piece of land near Khan’s hilltop mansion in the capital, as a bribe from real estate developer Malik Riaz Hussain, one of Pakistan’s richest and most powerful businessmen.
Hussain, who has yet to appear before an anti-graft body to respond to summonses issued late last year, has rejected all allegations of misconduct.
The PTI has criticised the indictment. “Trials conducted behind prison walls (are) only meant to pave the way for miscarriages of justice,” it said in a statement, referring to the proceedings as politically driven in order to keep Khan in jail.
The PTI party rejected the election’s results, citing rampant fraud.
