NAB opposes stay of appeal, but court gives final deadline for closing arguments
PTI founder Imran Khan. Photo: File
ISLAMABAD:
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday adjourned the hearing of the main appeal against the conviction in the £190 million corruption case to May 20, accepting a request by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf founding chairman Imran Khan’s lawyer, Barrister Salman Safdar.
In January last year, an accountability court in Islamabad sentenced Imran to 14 years and Bushra Bibi to seven years in prison in the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The IHC is currently considering appeals seeking a stay of these sentences.
Safdar filed a miscellaneous petition in the IHC on Wednesday seeking an adjournment and also sought permission to meet his client for instructions and to get the power of attorney signed. Khan’s lawyer stated that their involvement had so far been limited to dealing with applications for stays of sentences, with no formal involvement in main appeals, as the necessary powers of attorney had not been signed by their clients.
The case was heard by a two-member bench comprising Chief Justice (CJ) Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif. NAB special prosecutors Javed Arshad and Rafiq Maqsood appeared before the court while lawyer Safdar was not present and was represented by his junior lawyer.
During the case, the court read out the various adjournment petitions. The NAB prosecutor questioned the filing of the appeal and raised concerns over repeated discussions of the case in the media. In response, lawyer Shoaib Shaheen said the case should be argued in court rather than in public discourse.
Read: Imran’s lawyer asks for delay in £190m appeal
NAB opposed the request for adjournment; however, the court provided a final deadline for closing arguments. The court session was subsequently postponed until 20 May.
CJ Dogar said the lawyers of PTI founder Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi were given a last opportunity to present arguments.
PTI lawyer Fatahullah Barki said the court’s orders were not implemented and meetings with the PTI founder and Bushra Bibi had not taken place as planned since the verdict.
The Chief Justice, after hearing the arguments, rose from the bench and went to the chamber with the other judge and expressed hope that the case would proceed at the next hearing.
On Monday, the IHC rejected petitions by Imran and Bushra Bibi to stay their sentences in the £190 million corruption case, noting that their main appeal was already set for hearing. Imran and Bushra Bibi had requested that their pleas for suspension of sentence be heard before the main appeals. Both had submitted their application for a stay of sentence in March 2025.
The court noted in its judgment that the request for a stay of sentence was initiated because the main appeal had already been set for hearing. Referring to legal precedent, the court found that the merits of the case could not be investigated at the time of the suspension of sentence.
Imran and Bushra Bibi remain incarcerated in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail. They were sentenced on 20 December 2025 to 17 years in prison in the Toshakhana-II case, which relates to allegations that the couple illegally kept a Bulgari jewelery set gifted by the Saudi crown prince during an official visit to Saudi Arabia.
Imran has been in custody since August 2023, serving a sentence in a £190m corruption case. He also faces pending charges under the Anti-Terrorism Act in connection with the May 9, 2023 protests.
Read more: Senate panel highlights security concerns
£190 million case
The £190m case relates to allegations linked to the Al-Qadir Trust, a charity set up in 2018. The trust, which runs a university outside Islamabad, is accused of being used as a front to receive land worth millions of dollars from a property tycoon.
According to the government, the donations were made in retaliation for the former prime minister’s administration using repatriated funds from the United Kingdom to pay fines on behalf of the businessman instead of paying the amount into the national treasury. Imran has denied the allegations, claiming that neither he nor his wife benefited financially from the trust or related transactions.
In a separate development, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) filed a case in court against the PTI founder and others in the prohibited funding case.
Officials said the case was filed with Registrar Abdul Wahab of Special Court (Commercial Banking Circle), Islamabad. The registrar’s office forwards the case to the court after completing the investigation process, after which the case will be fixed for regular hearing.
The PTI founder and other accused have been named in the case and face allegations of foreign funding and financial irregularities.
