Verdict in £190m case against Imran, Bushra today

RAWALPINDI: The much-anticipated verdict of £190 million case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi is expected to be announced today (Friday) after being deferred thrice.

The judgment — reserved on December 18, 2024 — will be announced by accountability court Judge Nasir Javed at 11:30am tomorrow at a makeshift court in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail for which the court staff has informed the PTI founder’s lawyers.

APP adds: Federal Minister for Information Attaullah Tarar Thursday said £ 190 million pounds scam was an unprecedented mega corruption scandal in the history of Pakistan and irrefutable evidence were presented in the trial court.

Addressing a press conference here, he said evidence in the scam were so clear that even independent observers were not giving a clean chit to anyone accused. The minister said the National Crime Agency (NCA) in Britain had declared Shehbaz Sharif innocent after holding investigations in five countries.

The same agency had confiscated 190 million pounds of a tycoon and handed that amount over to the Government of Pakistan, he said and added that the question arose as to why the NCA gave that money to the government of Pakistan. He said the money was given to the government because it was the money of the people. If the money was not confiscated, why did the NCA hand it over to Pakistan?

He said Imran Khan was the only leader in the history of Pakistan who confessed that he had no source of income. The minister challenged the entire PTI leadership to tell the source of income of Imran Khan and if he had no source of income, how did a house worth Rs250 million in Zaman Park Lahore become a reality.

Tarar remarked that a person was given a benefit of Rs80-90 billion when a sealed envelope was approved by the cabinet during the PTI regime. After the approval of agenda in the sealed envelope of the cabinet, the founding chairman of PTI earned billions of rupees by settling the fine of a business tycoon, he added.

He said the tale of mega corruption scam started from there and Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi, Farah Gogi and cronies minted tens of millions of rupees. “In the biggest mega corruption scandal in the history of Pakistan, the hands of PTI founding chairman, Bushra Bibi and Farah Gogi are stained with corruption,” the minister said.

The minister said he expected that justice would be done in this mega scam and those involved would be brought to justice.