Pakistan ex-PM Imran Khan, wife, jailed for 14 years in graft case, his party says

[January 31, 2024]  By Asif Shahzad and Ariba Shahid

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) -A Pakistani anti-graft court jailed Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Khan for 14 years each on charges of illegally selling state gifts, his party said on Wednesday, the third conviction for the embattled former prime minister in the last few months.

The verdict also includes a 10-year disqualification from holding public office, his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), said. Bushra Khan, commonly known as Bushra Bibi, gave herself up for arrest shortly after the verdict, PTI added.

The 14-year imprisonment is harsher than the 10-year sentence given to Khan on Tuesday on charges of revealing state secrets, and just a week before national elections. It was not immediately clear if the two sentences for Khan would run concurrently.

"Another sad day in our judicial system history, which is being dismantled," Khan's media team said, denying the charge that any illegal acts were committed.

"No cross questioning allowed, no final argument concluded and decision pops up like a pre-determined process in play," it said, adding "This ridiculous decision will also be challenged."

Khan and his wife are charged with illegally selling gifts worth more than 140 million rupees ($501,000) in state possession and received during his 2018-2022 premiership.

Government officials have alleged Khan's aides sold the gifts in Dubai.

A list of these gifts shared by a former information minister included perfumes, diamond jewellery, dinner sets and seven watches, six of them Rolexes - the most expensive being a "Master Graff limited edition" valued at 85 million rupees ($304,000).

Khan was also handed a three-year prison sentence in August for the same charge by another court, but that sentence had been suspended on appeal.

Wednesday's verdict followed an investigation by the country's top anti-graft body, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which had also charged his wife in the case.

Bushra's conviction is an attempt to pressurise Khan further, PTI's acting chairman and lawyer Gohar Ali Khan said in a television interview. "Bushra Bibi has no link to this case," he said.

Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan, gestures as he speaks to the members of the media at his residence in Lahore, Pakistan May 18, 2023. REUTERS/Mohsin Raza/File Photo

While Khan has been found guilty in the other two cases, this is the first sentencing for his wife. The two were married in 2018, months before Khan ascended to premiership for the first time. It was Khan's third marriage after two divorces.

A prosecution team member, speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the verdict. A detailed verdict will be released soon, he said. Local broadcaster Geo News reported that the verdict also came with a hefty fine.

Khan's earlier conviction on the selling of state gifts charge resulted in a five-year ban from holding public office, ruling the 71-year-old out of the Feb. 8 election. Wednesday's verdict, however, means that he will be ineligible to hold office till he is 81.

CRACKDOWN

Following the verdict against Khan and his wife, police were deployed outside his party's offices in Islamabad and Lahore. Islamabad's police spokesman said the deployment was in light of Wednesday's verdict.

Khan has been fighting dozens of cases since he was ousted from power in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in 2022. He says his ouster was backed by the country's powerful military with whom he fell out with when he was in power.

He and his party say that, since his ouster, they have been faced with a brutal military-backed crackdown, including arrests of hundreds of supporters, party members and key aides.

The military, which has for decades held sway over Pakistan's politics, denies the charges.

NAB, the anti-graft agency that tried Khan, has investigated, tried and jailed at various times all prime ministers since 2008, including Khan's main political rival Nawaz Sharif, whose party is considered the frontrunner to win next week's national election.

(Reporting by Asif Shahzad, Ariba Shahid and Shivam Patel; Writing by Gibran Peshimam; Editing by YP Rajesh and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.