Judgment in £190m reference to be announced on 23rd

RAWALPINDI: The Special Accountability Court Wednesday reserved its judgment in the £190 million reference and was set to deliver the decision on December 23.

Judge Nasir Javed Rana conducted the hearing at the Adiala jail. The court reserved the verdict after both sides completed their arguments. Barrister Salman Safdar, Usman Gul and Zaheer Abbas represented Imran and Bushra Bibi, while Amjad Pervez Advocate argued on behalf of the prosecution.

Barrister Salman Safdar said no employee of the Al-Qadir Trust was a complainant in the case. He said the MRI of 190-million pound reference was done but nothing criminal could be proved to-date. He argued that the case was made on political grounds. Can social work be declared a crime, he asked. He said the PTI founder did not twist the arm of any businessman but donated for his social work.

Safdar said money from the Begum Rukhsana Memorial Trust was given to the Al-Qadir Trust. He said the PTI founder started social work after cricket, followed by politics. “People trust the PTI founder, which is why they donate,” Safdar said. He said Al-Qadir Trust had been built at a place where land worth Rs5,000 per kanal was available. The Shaukat Khanum Hospital suffered a loss of Rs9 billion annually, which was compensated through donations. He said political revenge had become so blind that even social work has been made a crime. “There is no evidence of illegal financial gains, as nothing went into the pockets of founder of PTI and his wife in the matter of Al-Qadir Trust,” he said.

Safdar said it could not be proved that the money seized in the UK was laundered. The money came into the account of Supreme Court Registrar and remained there for four years. “The money that came is also there and the trust is also running, so what is the punishment?” Salman asked. “About Bushra Bibi, it was said that the PTI founder played a special role in the illegal actions of PTI. What were those actions and what is their evidence?” he asked.

Safdar said the couple neither took a salary nor received any financial benefit from the Al-Qadir Trust. “My client Bushra Bibi is a housewife who has never held any public office. Neither any land was transferred in her name nor was there any money in her account. The allegations against the PTI founder and Bushra Bibi are baseless and they should be acquitted,” he prayed. Amjad Pervez said it was a case of illegal approval of adjustment of money coming from the UK. Instead of the money coming to the federal account, it came into the liability account of Supreme Court. He said returning the money did not end the crime. “If a public officeholder has a pending case against a person and he takes a donation from that person, it is a conflict of interest,” Amjad Pervez said. He said Farhat Shahzadi neither declared 240 kanals of land in her tax returns nor gave the money trail for the purchase of the land. He said the 190-million pound case was the biggest fraud in the history of Pakistan, for which rules were relaxed. After the completion of arguments, the court adjourned the hearing until Monday.

Meanwhile, the hearing in the Toshakhana-II case against the PTI founder chairman Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi was adjourned till December 21. The statements of two FIA witnesses could not be recorded. The defence lawyers requested that the hearing be postponed. The case was heard by Special Judge Central Shahrukh Arjumand.