Story behind Al-Qadir Trust Case
PAKISTAN’S former Prime Minister and Chairman of the PTI party Imran Khan, who was arrested on 9 May this year by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in connection with corruption involving the Al-Qadir University Trust, allegedly headed by Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi, at the premises of Islamabad High Court (IHC) was granted five bails on May 12, 2023 by the IHC, including Al-Qadir Trust case. A day ago, the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled that his arrest was illegal and ordered his immediate release.
After the arrest of Imran Khan, violent protests erupted across the country on. In various cities and towns, the PTI supporters damaged the civil and military installations on a large scale. In Rawalpindi, PTI supporters pelted stones on the gate of army’s General Headquarters, damaged army martyrs’ monuments and memorials. As regards the arrest of Imran Khan, Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Rana Sanaullah, other ministers of the ruling coalition of the PDM and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif reiterated that the NAB had arrested Imran Khan legally and on the basis of corrupt practices in a land dispute, involving a whopping amount of Rs.60 billion (£190 million). The NAB said that Khan did not respond to several summons.
Sources suggest that Khan, his wife and their close aides Zulfiqar Bukhari and Babar Awan are allegedly involved in the Al-Qadir University Project. Documents revealed that they formed the Trust to set up Al-Qadir University for imparting quality education in Jhelum’s Sohawa tehsil. The office address of the trust has been mentioned as “Bani Gala House, Islamabad”. Later, documents disclosed that the trustees signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a private company engaged in real estate business to receive donations. The company allotted land measuring 458 kanal, 4 marla, 58 square feet to the Trust. Fulfilling paper formalities, Bushra Bibi signed the MoU effective from March 2019.
Last June, the coalition government accused that Imran Khan and his wife obtained land worth billions of rupees for their Trust from Malik Riaz Hussain, a property tycoon of Pakistan to build an educational institution. In December 2019, Riaz agreed to hand over assets, including properties worth $239m, to the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) in an investigation related to “dirty money”.
However, the matter got murky with the entrance of PM’s Special Assistant on Accountability, Shahzad Akbar, who apparently on the behest of Malik Riaz convinced the NCA to settle the matter and return the money to Pakistan. In 2019, the settlement which was out of court, and came with the stipulation that it did not “represent a finding of guilt”. On 5 December 2019, Mr Akbar announced at a press conference in Islamabad that £140m had been repatriated to Pakistan, into the Supreme Court’s account. When asked how the money could be transferred to the SC account, he deflected the question, saying that the government, NCA and Malik Riaz had signed a “deed of confidentiality”.
In his defence against the NAB case, Imran claimed that he did not reap any personal benefit from Al-Qadir Trust, pointing out that a “trustee never gets any monetary benefit”. He elaborated: “We were given a choice that Pakistan would receive $170 million from NCA and its details regarding the agreement would remain confidential or otherwise we [would] have to file a case in the UK. We were also told that we had already wasted $100 million on foreign litigations and if we file a case, it will take years to conclude. Hence, we decided that if $170 millions come to the Supreme Court or to the government, it would come to Pakistan.” Khan added: “Instead, the PDM government made a corruption case against me…the aim to establish Al-Qadir University was to produce leadership for the country, which was acquainted with Islamic teachings.”
PTI Chairman Imran Khan has repeatedly pointed out that all of the cases, including the Al-Qadir University Trust against him have been cooked up in a deliberate exercise in political victimisation or keep him out of politics. Notably, Sultan Aftab, Chairman of the NAB, had resigned on 21 February this year—reportedly after refusing to comply with the PDM government which had asked him to build a case and to arrest former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Lt Gen (R) Nazir Ahmad Butt was notified as NAB’s chief by PM Shehbaz. Shareef. While the government sacked the NAB Chairman Lt-Gen. (R) Nazir Ahmed, who detained the former Premier Khan from the premises of the Islamabad High Court, which resulted into a wave of demonstrations and violence across Pakistan, and on 12 May 2023 appointed Waqar Ahmed Chohan as the new chairman of the NAB.
Despite his pre-arrest bail and protective bail of his wife from the courts, ex-PM Imran Khan on 23 May 23, appeared before NAB’s Combined Investigation Team. Khan was earlier summoned on 18 May in a ‘personal capacity’ in National Crime Agency £190m scandal, but he did not show up. The NAB officials sought the records of the funds related to the £190m settlement case, while the former prime minister told them that the watchdog had already received the Al-Qadir Trust’s records—the £190 million received from the NCA was present in the Supreme Court’s Account, no personal benefit of any kind was taken from this amount. Khan stated: “Allegations of corruption by NAB are fabricated, baseless and malicious.
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Islamabad, former federal minister Faisal Vawda and previous member of the PTI disclosed on 24 May that ex-spymaster Faiz Hameed was the “architect” and the mastermind in the corruption case (Al Qader Trust)—Imran Khan was currently facing. The NAB Rawalpindi had also summoned Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid regarding its investigation into the NCA scandal on 24 May — asked former minister to bring minutes of cabinet committee’s meeting held on Dec 3, 2019.
—The writer is freelance columnist based in Lahore.
