ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Thursday turned down acquittal pleas by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife in a case in which they are accused of receiving land worth millions of dollars as a bribe from a real estate tycoon through the Al-Qadir Trust.
The charitable trust was set up by Bushra Khan, Khan’s third wife, and Khan in 2018 when still in office. Pakistani authorities have accused Khan and his wife of receiving the land, worth up to 7 billion rupees ($25 million), from a property developer charged in Britain with money laundering.
Authorities accused Khan of getting the land in exchange for a favor to the property developer by using 190 million pounds repatriated by Britain in the money laundering probe to pay fines levied by a court against the developer. Khan’s aides have previously said that the land was donated to the trust for charitable purposes. The real estate developer has also denied any wrongdoing.
On Thursday, an accountability court turned down a plea by Khan and Bushra to be acquitted in the case. The plea was filed following a Supreme Court verdict last week restoring amendments to the country’s anti-graft laws approved in 2022 that Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said had put the land bribe case outside the jurisdiction of the National Accountability Bureau, which had filed and is currently investigating it.
“After hearing the arguments of the parties concerned, the court rejected Imran Khan’s acquittal petition and fixed the cross-examination of the last witness for tomorrow,” Pakistan’s Samaa News reported. Other Pakistani media also widely reported on the ruling.
The National Accountability (Amendment) Act, 2022 limited the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) jurisdiction to cases involving corruption of over Rs500 million, reduced the term of the chairman of the bureau and prosecutor general to three years and transferred all pending inquiries, investigations and trials to other authorities. The amendments were passed by the then coalition government led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his first term as PM from 2022-2023.
Imran Khan, who had at the time recently been ousted as prime minister through a vote of no-confidence in parliament, petitioned the top court against the amendments, claiming they were passed to benefit the influential, including top politicians, and would legitimize corruption in the country.
In September last year, the Supreme Court, led by then Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, declared changes to the National Accountability Ordinance unlawful and ordered the restoration of corruption cases against public office holders that were withdrawn after amendments in the law came into effect.
The federal government led by PM Sharif and other parties filed intra-court appeals against the judgment, which were accepted by a five-member Supreme Court bench led by the current chief justice, Qazi Faez Isa.
Last Friday, the Supreme Court announced that it was restoring all the changes to the accountability law.
Khan, who has been in jail since August last year in a slew of cases, had also become a beneficiary of the restored amendments, his party said at the time, arguing that he could now move the courts for acquittal in at least two major corruption cases, namely the land bribe case and an investigation involving the illegal sale of state gifts while he was PM.
“Detailed verdict is awaited but in the light of short order, it’s safe to say new Toshakhana [state gifts] case against Imran Khan can no longer continue as it exceeds Rs500 million cap, making it ineffective, as per the new amendments,” Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party said in a statement to media after Friday’s SC judgment. “It will also impact the £190 million case.”
