The Al-Qadir Trust case is a legal case involving

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

, the leader of the

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI; ur, , ) is a political party in Pakistan. It was founded in 1996 by Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The PTI is one of the thre ...

(PTI) political party and a former prime minister, is a party participant in the ongoing legal dispute. The case centres on accusations of corruption and abuse of authority in relation to a settlement between the PTI administration and real estate mogul,

Malik Riaz Malik Riaz Hussain (Urdu, pa, ; born February 8, 1954) is a Pakistani business tycoon who is the founder of Bahria Town, the largest privately held real estate development company in Pakistan and in Asia. Riaz started his career as a clerk w ...

, which is said to have cost the national exchequer £190 million. The case is currently under investigation by the

National Accountability Bureau The National Accountability Bureau ( ur, ; abbreviated NAB) is an autonomous and constitutionally established federal institution responsible to build efforts against corruption and prepare critical national economic intelligence assessments ...

Background

Property tycoon Malik Riaz had assets worth £190 million seized by the

National Crime Agency The National Crime Agency (NCA) is a national law enforcement agency in the United Kingdom. It is the UK's lead agency against organised crime; human, weapon and drug trafficking; cybercrime; and economic crime that goes across regional and in ...

(NCA) of the United Kingdom during the PTI administration. The assets would be transferred to the

Pakistani government The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the four provinces, two autonomous territories, ...

, according to the NCA. The agreement with the real estate tycoon was regarded as a civil matter and did not indicate guilt. On 3 December 2019, then Prime Minister

received approval from his cabinet for the settlement with the UK crime agency without revealing the specifics of the private accord. According to the arrangement, the money would be presented to the Supreme Court on Malik Riaz's behalf. In the weeks that followed the decision, Islamabad saw the founding of the Al-Qadir Trust. Members of the trust have been named as PTI leaders

Zulfi Bukhari Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari (born 3 December 1980), also known as Zulfi Bukhari, is a Pakistani multi-millionaire businessman, politician and film producer. He served as a Special Assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan in the capacity of a Mi ...

Babar Awan Zaheer-ud-din Babar Awan ( ur, ظہیر الدین بابر اعوان; born 27 January 1958; SI), is a Pakistani politician, senior lawyer, author, analyst, columnist, and leftist writer who served as Adviser to Prime Minister for Parliamen ...

Bushra Bibi Bushra Bibi Khan () is the third spouse of Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan. She and Khan married six months before he assumed office as Prime Minister. Early life Bushra Bibi was born to a conservative, politically influential ...

, and her close friend Farah Khan. Malik Riaz allegedly gave up the land for the construction of an educational institution in exchange for legal protection for the monies he had.

Investigation and Charges

The Al-Qadir Trust case was the subject of an investigation by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which focused on claims of the abuse of authority in the process of retrieving monies from the UK crime agency. After significant evidence surfaced, the investigation subsequently developed into a full-fledged inquiry. The case has implicated Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi, Barrister Shahzad Akbar, and Malik Riaz as suspects. Allegations against them include accepting unauthorised advantages in the form of land for the construction of Al-Qadir University, modifying cash supplied by the NCA to the Pakistani government, and allegedly providing legal protection for the money of the property tycoon.

Legal actions

On 9 May 2023, Rangers officers detained Imran Khan outside the Islamabad High Court, where he had gone to request bail in a number of cases brought against him, including the Al-Qadir Trust case. On 11 May, though, the Supreme Court ruled that his arrest was unlawful and ordered his release. Imran Khan was granted interim release by the Islamabad High Court in the Al-Qadir Trust case for a period of two weeks, and the court also prohibited arresting him in any other case until 15 May.

References

External links

{{Imran Khan 2023 in Pakistani politics Corruption in Pakistan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf National Accountability Bureau