Former Prime Minister Imran Khan said Thursday that neither he nor his wife Bushra Bibi benefited financially from the Al-Qadir Trust case, and that business tycoon Malik Riaz was able to testify that he was the only prime minister who “never sought anything from him for personal purposes or financial gain.”
Imran and Bushra were convicted last week in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust case, in which Riaz and his son are also co-accused and declared criminals. Following the conviction, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday took action against Riaz to bring him back to Pakistan from the UAE.
A post from Imran Khan’s X account today said: “Neither Bushra Bibi nor I have benefited financially from Al-Qadir Trust in any way.
“Malik Riaz will testify that I was the only Prime Minister who never sought anything from him for personal or financial benefit.”
Imran added that “unlike [Asif Ali] Zardari, I did not have a Bilawal House built for me, nor did I sell One Hyde Park for double its value like the Sharif family did.
“The future of Pakistan’s youth is important to me, and it was for this reason that Al-Qadir University was created,” the post said.
The post came in the context of Riaz’s post on X a day ago, in which he had said he “would not testify”. “This was my decision yesterday and this is my decision today, no matter how much they oppress me, Malik Riaz will not testify!” the real estate magnate had said in response to the government’s decision on his extradition.
Meanwhile, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar had called on the father and son to appear and defend themselves in court.
According to the court verdict of the conviction of Imran and Bushra Bibi, the “property of the fake… Al-Qadir University Project Fund” was confiscated to the federal government. The other accused, namely Riaz, his son Ahmed Ali Riaz Malik, former accountability czar Mirza Shahzad Akbar, former Prime Minister aide Zulfi Bukhari, Farhat Shahzadi and Ziaul Mustafa Nasim have already been declared criminals and are They have issued perpetual arrest warrants and confiscation of their property. properties have been ordered.
The detailed verdict, spanning 148 pages, recalled that the Supreme Court had held that the grant of land by the Sindh Board of Revenue to the Malir Development Authority (MDA) and the subsequent exchange of land by the MDA with Bahria Town (Pvt) The limited ones were all illegal and a result of collusion between all interested parties.
Bahria Town subsequently agreed to pay a total sum of Rp460 billion for the land. The verdict said funds from foreign bank accounts, previously frozen by the UK National Crime Agency, were repatriated to settle Bahria Town’s obligations rather than being added to the national fund.
In its reference against Imran, the NAB had alleged that the then cabinet approved a confidential deed in 2019 to hand over £190 million seized by the NCA and returned it to Pakistan, back to Riaz.
The office had said that Imran and Bushra Bibi obtained billions of rupees and land of hundreds of kanals from Bahria Town to legalize the money. According to the reference, Riaz’s son transferred 240 kanal of land to Shahzadi, while Bukhari received land under a trust, which NAB said did not exist at the time of transfer.
