The Rawalpindi division of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has called upon Imran Khan, former prime minister and chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), regarding an inquiry into the Al-Qadir Trust case. The meeting is scheduled for May 18 (Thursday).
The previous week, the Supreme Court deemed the anti-corruption body’s detention of Khan as “illegal,” thereby providing him with extensive legal protection.
In a notice released on Tuesday, NAB requested details about a 2019 investigation conducted by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) into assets amounting to £190 million linked to the deposed prime minister.
NAB has instructed Khan to provide all relevant documents about Al-Qadir University, including land deeds, trust documents, bank statements, and details about the NCA investigation. Failure to comply with the summons could result in legal action against the PTI chairman, the anti-corruption agency warned.
Sources familiar with the investigation revealed that between 2018 and 2019, the UK government discovered a staggering £140 million in an account held by a prominent Pakistani real estate mogul’s son and his spouse. The NCA immediately froze the funds due to suspicions of criminal origins.
Read: Al-Qadir Trust Case: A Comprehensive Breakdown
Interestingly, neither the account holder nor his spouse contested the freeze. After following legal procedures, the UK announced in 2019 that the laundered funds would be returned to the government of Pakistan. This decision was communicated through a joint press release from the Assets Recovery Unit (ARU) and the NCA.
The case was subsequently presented to Pakistan’s federal cabinet on December 3, 2019, by then special assistant to the prime minister (SAPM), Mirza Shahzad Akbar. The agenda was to discuss the funds’ repatriation, which would be deposited into an account supervised by the Supreme Court of Pakistan’s registrar.
This account was linked to a remarkable Rs460 billion recovery from the same property tycoon, associated with penalties related to a housing scheme in Karachi.
A source disclosed that Khan approved the settlement without allowing his cabinet members to review it. The property tycoon proposed a significant compensation package as part of an agreement to return the laundered money. This package included the transfer of a vast tract of land in Jhelum and Rs285 million in cash to the Al-Qadir Trust.
At that time, the trustees of Al-Qadir Trust included Khan, his wife Bushra Bibi, and his senior advisors Zulfiqar Bukhari and Babar Awan. However, it’s important to note that Awan and Bukhari were relieved of their positions on April 22, 2020.
