Pakistan: Verdict in GBP 190 million case against Imran Khan postponed to January 13

The court staff attributed the delay to Judge Nasir Javed Rana being on leave and confirmed that both the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor and PTI's legal counsel have been informed of the postponement.

This marks the second postponement of the verdict in the Al-Qadir Trust case, which was initially reserved on December 18. The announcement was first scheduled for December 23 but was delayed at that time as well.

Earlier in December, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had renewed corruption allegations in the Al-Qadir Trust case against Imran Khan.

Asif stated that the four years of Imran's governance were marked by unprecedented levels of corruption. "There has been a lot of corruption in the last 75 years, but Imran Khan broke all records," Asif said, adding that Imran and those around him were deeply involved in corrupt activities, Dawn reported.

Notably, in December 2023, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a corruption reference against Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi, and several others. The case involves allegations that the couple obtained billions of rupees and hundreds of kanals of land from Bahria Town in exchange for legalising PKR 50 billion that had been returned to Pakistan by the UK during the PTI government's tenure.

The NAB had launched an investigation into the alleged gain of hundreds of acres of land under the Al-Qadir University Trust, with the claim that it caused a loss of GBP 190 million to the national treasury.

According to the charges, Imran Khan and others accused in the case allegedly misallocated PKR 50 billion (equivalent to GBP 190 million at the time) that had been sent by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Pakistani government, ARY News reported.

In response, NAB filed a corruption reference involving Imran Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi, and six other individuals related to the Al-Qadir University project, which was registered on December 26, 2019. (ANI)