IHC adjourns £190 million case appeal hearing till May 20

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday adjourned the hearing of the main appeals against convictions in the £190 million corruption case until May 20 after accepting a request filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s counsel, Barrister Salman Safdar.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Asif heard the matter relating to appeals filed against the sentences awarded to Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi by an accountability court in January last year.

The accountability court had sentenced Imran Khan to 14 years imprisonment and Bushra Bibi to seven years in prison in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference linked to the £190 million case.

During Thursday’s proceedings, Barrister Salman Safdar did not appear before the court and was represented by his junior counsel. The defence had earlier filed a miscellaneous application seeking adjournment and permission to meet Imran Khan to obtain instructions and secure signed powers of attorney for the main appeals.

The petition argued that the legal team had so far only handled applications relating to suspension of sentence and had not formally engaged in the main appeals because the necessary powers of attorney had not yet been signed by the appellants.

NAB Special Prosecutors Javed Arshad and Rafiq Maqsood appeared before the court and opposed the adjournment request. The prosecution also raised concerns regarding public discussion of the case in the media.

Responding to the objections, PTI counsel Shoaib Shaheen stated that arguments relating to the matter should remain confined to the courtroom rather than public debate.

Despite NAB’s opposition, the court accepted the adjournment request and granted what Chief Justice Dogar described as a “final opportunity” for the defence counsel to present arguments in the appeals.

“The lawyers for PTI founder Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi are being given a final opportunity to conclude their arguments,” the chief justice observed.

During the hearing, PTI lawyer Fatahullah Barki also informed the court that meetings between the PTI founder, Bushra Bibi and their legal team were allegedly not taking place according to court directives since the verdict was announced.

After hearing preliminary submissions, the judges briefly retired to chambers before returning to adjourn the matter until May 20, expressing hope that the case would proceed substantively at the next hearing.

Earlier this week, the IHC had rejected petitions filed by Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi seeking suspension of their sentences in the same case. The court ruled that since the main appeals had already been fixed for hearing, there was no justification for separately hearing the suspension pleas.

In its written judgment, the court observed that the merits of the case could not be examined at the stage of suspension of sentence and cited legal precedent in support of its decision.

Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi remain incarcerated in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail. Besides the £190 million corruption case, both were also convicted in December 2025 in the Toshakhana-II case, in which they were sentenced to 17 years imprisonment over allegations of unlawfully retaining a Bulgari jewellery set gifted by the Saudi Crown Prince.

Imran Khan has remained in custody since August 2023 and also faces several pending cases, including trials under anti-terrorism laws related to the May 9, 2023 protests.