Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi benefited from UK NCA £190m deal: Spotlight on Corruption
LONDON: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi apparently personally benefited from a £190 million dirty money deal between Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government. Raised, the UK’s Spotlight on Corruption, an anti-corruption NGO has claimed.
Susan Hawley, the organisation’s executive director, condemned the NCA for showing an appalling lack of judgment and transparency by agreeing to a dubious deal with Khan’s government.
He said it appeared that the £190 million deal was the result of corruption involving the UK NCA and the Pakistan government. The deal was struck between the UKNCA’s international anti-corruption unit and former PTI government accountability minister Shahzad Akbar, who was empowered by Khan to finalize the deal with UK authorities.
Addressing. Geo NewsSusan Hawley said that the NCA’s secret settlement with the Pakistani business tycoon shows an appalling lack of judgment and transparency on the part of the agency.
He said: “The settlement that the NCA claimed was evidence of its success in tackling international corruption now appears to be the result of corruption cases. It was clearly mediated by the government in Pakistan at the time. and apparently personally benefited Khan and his wife.
According to Susan Hawley, the settlement allowed the tycoon to declare his innocence and avoid liability inside Pakistan, thus giving him almost total immunity. “The losers in this horrific story are the Pakistani people, while the UK remains a playground for corrupt elites from Pakistan and other countries with no consequences,” Ms Hawley added.
The £190 million issue came to the fore again when former prime minister Khan was arrested a few days ago on charges of corruption in the Al-Qadir Trust/UKNCA case and his arrest sparked violence and The events that followed shook the PTI. .
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) last week questioned both Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi over the same case, threatening Khan’s parliamentary political career.
Khan, along with his wife Bushra Bibi, and other PTI leaders, including Shahzad Akbar and Zulfi Bukhari, are facing an inquiry into a deal struck between the PTI government and a business tycoon, allowing the national exchequer to 190 million pounds were lost.
According to the allegations, Khan and his wife personally benefited when 50 billion rupees (£190 million at the time) were transferred by the NCA to the Pakistani government as a condition of the deal with the tycoon.
Imran Khan and his wife acquired 458 kanals of land in Sohawa from a tycoon for the establishment of Al-Qadir University. During the PTI regime, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) seized 190 million worth of tycoon’s assets.
The agency said the assets would be transferred to the government of Pakistan and that the settlement with the tycoon was “a civil matter, and does not indicate criminality”.
Subsequently, then Prime Minister Khan on 3 December 2019 got his cabinet to approve the deal with the UK’s crime agency, without revealing the details of the secret deal and asked the cabinet to approve the deal as it was too Was sensitive.
It was decided that the money would be deposited by the tycoon in the Supreme Court and not the State Bank of Pakistan.
Subsequently, a few weeks after the Imran-led government mediated and approved the deal with the tycoon, the Al-Qadir Trust was established in Islamabad. PTI leaders Zulfi Bukhari, Babar Awan, Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi and his close friend Farah Khan were appointed members of the trust.
Soon after the Khan government approved the deal, the tycoon transferred 458 kanals of land to Bukhari, a close aide of the PTI chief, which he later transferred to the trust. Later, Bukhari and Awan were chosen as trustees. That trust is now registered in the names of Khan, Bushra Bibi and Farah Gogi.
The NAB authorities were earlier investigating the alleged misuse of powers in the process of recovering “dirty money” received from the British crime agency, but after the indisputable evidence came out in the case, Imran, Bushra Bibi, Barrister Shahzad An inquiry was started against Akbar. , and others were turned over to investigation.
The UKNCA said that £190 million was given to the State of Pakistan and not to any PTI government or individual.
Originally published.
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