The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Wednesday dismissed Bushra Bibi’s petition seeking suspension of her sentence in the £190 million case.
As per details, a two-member bench headed by FCC Chief Justice Aminuddin Khan announced the decision on the petition submitted by the jailed wife of former prime minister Imran Khan.
An accountability court in Islamabad had earlier sentenced Bushra to seven years in prison and fined her Rs500,000. The same court had sentenced her husband and PTI founder Khan to 14 years, serving him a Rs1 million fine.
The case, known also known as the Al-Qadir Trust case, centres on corruption allegations pertaining to Rs50 billion, worth £190 million in 2019, which the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) had retrieved and returned to the Pakistani government. The money came from the assets of property tycoon Malik Riaz, which the NCA had seized.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Barrister Salman Safdar represented Bushra and argued that courts had traditionally shown leniency toward women in such cases. He said his client had sought the suspension of her sentence because she was a woman.
Safdar also criticised NAB, saying its conduct over the past 13 months had been “questionable”. He said the bureau had sought adjournments on several hearing dates and opposed the suspension application, and maintained that her conviction had given her legal grounds for bail.
CJ Aminuddin Khan, however, told Safdar not to argue the merits of the case, saying the court was only considering the suspension of the sentence.
The hearing concluded with the court telling Safdar to submit his arguments in writing.
