New Delhi: Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was whisked away from the Islamabad High Court by Pakistani Rangers Tuesday and arrested in the Al-Qadir Trust case, in which Khan is accused of granting favours in exchange for donations to the trust.
The paramilitary force Pakistan Rangers arrested Khan under Section 9(a) of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 for “commission of the offence of corruption” in the case.
Khan is charged with accepting donations in the form of land and cash to the trust – of which he was the chairman as prime minister.
Last year, Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif told the National Assembly that an investigation would be conducted into donations given to the Al-Qadir Trust.
Asif informed the Assembly that the trust was chaired by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief and that he, his wife Bushra Bibi and her friend Farah Khan were the trustees of the Al-Qadir University – which was owned by the trust.
Following this announcement, a federal cabinet was set up last June to investigate Khan and Bushra’s involvement in receiving $5 billion of laundered money from the real estate firm Bahria Town – in exchange for protecting the firm in a money-laundering case.
The trust is said to have received PKR 500 million cash and 450 kanals or 56.25 acres of land — which was valued at PKR 244 million in 2019 — from Bahria Town for the university, according to Pakistan Defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif.
The 56.25 acres of land, located in Mouza Bakrala in Jhelum district’s Sohawa, was first transferred to PTI leader Zulfi Bukhari and then to the trust, following its creation in 2021.
The acknowledgement agreement of the donated land was signed between Bushra Khan (on behalf of the Al-Qadir University) and the donor, while Imran Khan was in office.
Established in 2021 “for imparting spiritual education”, the PTI Chairman’s university is yet to be recognised by the Punjab government, The News reported. Two years after its establishment, the Al-Qadir University in December 2022 had only managed to enroll 100 students, with 41 in the first year and 60 in the following year. Despite being registered under a trust, the Al-Qadir University also charges fees from its students, it is alleged.
According to an investigative report by The News in 2021, the trust received donations of PKR 180 million. Between July 2020 and June 2021, the trust earned PKR 101 million while its total expenditure during the same period, including the salaries of the staff and workers, was only PKR 8.58 million.
According to the Defence Minister, Khan received these benefits for allegedly giving favours worth PKR 45 billion to the owner of a housing scheme.
Asif noted that the UK National Crime Agency detected 150 million pounds of laundered money owned by the owner of Bahria Town in the UK.
“This amount as told to the Public Accounts Committee by NAB has been shown as recovery,” he said. He claimed the amount was remitted to the Pakistan government but was adjusted against the fine imposed by the Supreme Court on the owner of the housing scheme – at Khan’s behest.
Earlier this year, Zulfi Bukhari was summoned by the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) Rawalpindi office in connection with the case and was also asked to bring the land transfer record of Al-Qadir Trust.
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