Ex-PM of Pakistan Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi have been charged with corruption: Report

Islamabad: Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were indicted by a court on Tuesday on allegations that they accepted land as bribes while he was prime minister, according to a statement from his party.

Khan, 71, has been debunked by the accusations before and has been incarcerated since August due to unrelated cases. He was already barred from participating in politics for ten years after being found guilty in two cases of corruption.

The trial took place inside a jail. The party said that the couple entered a not guilty plea. Despite the convictions and what it claims is a military-backed crackdown, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party-backed candidates won the most seats in parliament in the national elections held on February 8.

However, the Bhutto and Sharif dynasties, who lead his opposition parties, managed to put together an alliance to form a minority coalition government.

Case of the Al-Qadir Trust
The subject of the most recent indictment is Al-Qadir Trust, a non-governmental welfare organization that Khan and his third wife, Bushra Bibi, founded in 2018 while he was still in government.

The trust, according to the prosecution, served as a front for Khan to accept priceless land as a bribe from Malik Riaz Hussain, one of Pakistan’s wealthiest and most influential real estate developers.

The indictment was denounced by the PTI. It said in a statement that “trials held behind prison walls, only meant to paving way for miscarriage of justice.”