The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Wednesday dismissed an application from Bushra Bibi, the wife of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, which sought to suspend her sentence in the £190 million case. A two-member bench led by FCC Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan announced the ruling against her plea.
An accountability court in Islamabad had sentenced Bushra to seven years in prison and a fine of Rs500,000. Imran, the PTI founder, received 14 years and a Rs1 million fine in the same case.
How the £190m case began
The Al-Qadir Trust case, widely known as the £190m case, centres on allegations that Imran and others adjusted Rs50 billion, then worth £190 million, during his time as prime minister in 2019. That money had been sent to the Pakistani government by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA). The funds were linked to the assets of a property tycoon that the NCA had seized while PTI was in power.
At the time, the British agency said the amount was meant to be handed to the Pakistani government as part of its settlement with the tycoon. It described the matter as “a civil matter, and does not represent a finding of guilt”. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) later filed a reference in December 2023. It then brought charges against the former premier and his wife on February 27, 2024, alleging that Imran approved the settlement on December 3, 2019, without disclosing the details of the confidential agreement.
Lawyer criticises NAB during hearing
Barrister Salman Safdar represented Bushra in court, while Salman Akram Raja was also present in the courtroom. Safdar argued that courts have traditionally shown leniency towards women in such matters, and said his client had requested the suspension on the basis of her status as a woman.
Safdar also criticised NAB, claiming its conduct over the previous 13 months had been questionable. He said the bureau had sought adjournments on several hearing dates and had opposed the request to suspend the sentence. He maintained that, following the conviction, legal grounds for granting Bushra bail had been established. He further argued that earlier proceedings had focused largely on the appeal filed by the PTI founder.
Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan cautioned the counsel against arguing the merits of the case at this stage, noting that the matter before the court concerned the suspension of the sentence. Justice Baqar Najafi asked how many times the main appeal had been scheduled for hearing. The court then ended the hearing and directed Safdar to submit his arguments in writing. The bench subsequently rejected the plea for suspension of Bushra’s sentence in the case.
