A local court in Pakistan handed down a 14-year jail term to former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a land corruption case involving the Al-Qadir Trust on Friday, a news agency said. The case, named the biggest financial wrongdoing charge against Khan, has been resolved in an anti-corruption court in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Since August 2023, Khan has been in Adiala Jai,l where the judgment has also been passed.
The case has been put before Judge Nasir Javed Rana for its hearing and it has passed through many adjournments. The judgment previously planned for earlier hearings was adjourned three times, last on January 13. Because of security reasons, the court was moved to Adiala Jail where a make-shift court was established in order to guarantee the deliverance of the verdict safely.
The case was registered by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Pakistan in December 2023 against Khan (72), his wife Bushra Bibi (50), and six others. They were charged with embezzling £190 million (approximately PKR 50 billion) in the national treasury. The charges were all laid on financial impropriety and abuse of funds together with mismanagement of assets of the Al-Qadir Trust, a charity organization linked with Khan.
The following sentence represents a new level of legal complications in Khan’s fate, who was removed from the position of prime minister beginning April 2022. The verdict is increasingly believed to be an important event in Pakistan’s escalating campaign against corruption with influential personalities.
The case has generated much publicity since Imran Khan was formerly a leader, and he has never admitted to the allegations. He has said the charges are politically motivated. However, Bushra Bibi and other suspects subjected to the legal charges remain vulnerable, and more trials continue.
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