The National Accountability Bureau on Friday filed a reference against PTI Chairman Imran Khan and seven others, including the ex-premier’s wife Bushra Bibi and property tycoon Malik Riaz, in connection with the Al-Qadir Trust case.
The case alleges that Imran and his wife obtained billions of rupees and land worth hundreds of kanals from Bahria Town Ltd for legalising Rs50 billion that was identified and returned to the country by the UK during the previous PTI government.
The others named in the reference include Farhat Shahzadi, a close friend of Imran’s spouse, former special assistants to the prime minister Mirza Shahzad Akbar and Zulfi Bukhari, legal expert for the PTI government’s Assets Recovery Unit Zia-ul Mustafa Nasim and Ahmed Riaz.
The accountability watchdog submitted the reference against Imran and others to an accountability court in Islamabad earlier Friday. It said the “accused […] were given multiple opportunities to justify and provide information, but they deliberately, with malafide intention, refused to provide the information on one or the other pretext.
“Furthermore, it is established through their responses that they have nothing in their defence to rebut the above-mentioned allegations. Thus, they all have committed an offence” under the National Accountability Ordinance.
