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ISLAMABAD, Jan 13 (APP):The Accountability Court (AC) on Monday postponed the verdict till January 13, in £190 million pounds reference due to absence of PTI founder and his wife Bushra Bibi.
This was the third time the trial court postponed the announcement of judgment in aforesaid case.
Accountability Court’s Judge Nasir Javed Rana heard the case wherein NAB’s Prosecutor Chaudhry Nazir, other members of NAB legal team including Sohail Arif, Owais Arshad and Irfan Ahmed appeared before the court. PTI founder’s lawyer Salman Akram Raja, his sisters Aleema Khan, Uzma and other PTI were also present.
However, PTI founder and his wife Bushra Bibi failed to appear before the court in central jail adiala. At this, the court once again postponed the announcement of verdict.
During hearing, Judge Nasir Javed Rana stated that the decision is signed and ready to be announced. He said that PTI founder is conveyed twice but he didn’t arrive in court while his wife Bushra Bibi also skipped the appearance. The Judge said that he had arrived court at 8:00 a.m but neither the lawyers nor the accused appeared before the court till 10:00 a.m. He said that the court is postponing the verdict which would be announced on January 17.
It may be mentioned here that the NAB had filed this reference in 2023 in which PTI founder and the other accused are alleged to have misused £190 million sent by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) as part of the settlement. Bushra Bibi was named as an accused for her role as a trustee of the Al-Qadir Trust. Additionally, the couple is accused of receiving undue benefits, including over 458 kanal in Mouza Bakrala, Sohawa, for the establishment of Al-Qadir University.
Subsequently, the Al-Qadir Trust was established in Islamabad. Members of the trust were PTI leaders Zulfi Bukhari, Babar Awan, Bushra Bibi, and her close friend Farah Khan. The real estate tycoon allegedly gave up the land for the construction of an educational institution in exchange for legal protection for him.