Bushra Bibi says she has no knowledge about settlement between UK’s National Crime Agency & property tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain

ISLAMABAD, June 07 (SABAH): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan’s wife, Bushra Bibi, on Wednesday responded to a notice issued to her by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rawalpindi office in the Al-Qadir Trust case and said that she did not have information about the settlement between the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and property tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain.

The accountability watchdog had directed Bushra Bibi and the PTI chief to appear before its Rawalpindi office along with documents pertaining to the registration, donations and other details of the Al-Qadir University on June 7 (Wednesday).

The Al-Qadir Trust case alleges that the PTI chief and his wife obtained billions of rupees and land worth hundreds of kanals from Bahria Town Ltd for legalising Rs50 billion that was identified and returned to the country by the UK during the previous PTI government.

In her reply, she said that the PTI chief had requested the bureau to shift the hearing to June 8 (Thursday) as he was already scheduled to appear before the Islamabad High Court and an anti-terrorism court in Islamabad.

Highlighting that she observes “strict purdah (veil) and would like to be accompanied by my husband when I travel to Islamabad”, Bushra Bibi requested the accountability bureau to shift her NAB appearance to Thursday.

Bushra Bibi further said that the “donations made to Al-Qadir University Project Trust were not ‘disguised under the garb of donations’, rather they are genuine donations, made bona fide exclusively for the benefit of Al-Qadir University Project Trust”.

She asserted that “all donations made by Bahria Town Ltd (including land, building, funds, etc) are for the exclusive use and benefit of the Al-Qadir University Project Trust and not for the use or benefit in any manner of any individual, including the trustees”.

She said the NAB was “duty bound to identify and particularise the information sought from” her as well as state the connection between the details and her involvement in the case.

“I have no personal knowledge of, nor was I privy to any matter relating to the proceedings between the UK’s NCA and Malik Riaz family, or the terms of settlement between NCA and Malik Riaz family pursuant to the said proceedings, or the repatriation of funds from the UK to Pakistan, or the proceedings of the Federal Cabinet and the decision taken by it on Dec 3, 2019,” she said.

She said that there was “no such land, cash, gift or any valuable thing given to me or, as far as my information goes, to any other trustee, by Malik Riaz Hussain or any of his family member/ Bahria Town Ltd”.

“Kindly note that I have not made any donations to the trust,” she added.

Regarding the documents sought by the NAB, Bushra Bibi said they were with the trust’s chief financial officer, who told her he had already submitted the certified copies of the documents to the accountability watchdog on May 23.