The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday barred the accountability court from issuing any final verdict in the £190 million case against incarcerated Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi, as it took up the duo’s pleas for acquittal in the case.
A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb heard the couple’s acquittal pleas, which had urged the court to halt the trial court proceedings until the ruling of the IHC.
After hearing the arguments, the IHC ordered the trial court to complete proceedings but not issue any final verdict until its hearings were complete. The IHC bench also directed Khan and Bushra’s counsels to submit relevant documents and issued notices to the respondents over the couple’s acquittal pleas. It then adjourned the proceedings until Sept. 26.
Earlier, the accountability court had rejected the PTI founder and his wife’s acquittal pleas in the £190 million settlement case on a plea filed after the Supreme Court restored amendments to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance that were earlier struck down. Subsequently, Khan and Bushra had approached the IHC against the accountability court’s ruling, seeking their acquittal.
According to the charges filed by NAB, Khan, Bushra and other accused—who are currently proclaimed offenders—had allegedly facilitated utilizing £190 million sent by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) to the Pakistani government as part of an agreement with Bahria Town owner Malik Riaz to pay a fine he owed to the Supreme Court.
Then-prime minister Khan, per NAB, had secured approval for the settlement from his cabinet without taking them into confidence. NAB alleges that in exchange Khan and his wife were granted land worth billions of rupees from Riaz to build an educational institute.