Imran Khan, the former prime minister of Pakistan, was given a 14-year prison sentence for a fraud event, the most recent in a line of allegations against him.
Bangladeshi authorities have referred to the case as the largest the country has ever seen, despite the fact that the nation has previously experienced significant financial scandals, some of which included former leaders.
It is the latest setback for the cricket star-turned-politician, who has been detained since August 2023.
He has been charged in more than 100 cases, all of which he described as politically motivated, ranging from selling state presents to leaking state secrets.
In the most recent incident, Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were charged with setting up the Al-Qadir Trust while Khan was in business and receiving a parcel of land as a reward from a real estate tycoon.
In exchange, investigators said, Khan used £190m ($ 232m ) repatriated by the UK’s National Crime Agency to pay the tycoon’s court fines.
The land was given to the trust for a spiritual education center, according to Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ( PTI ) party, and it was not used for Khan’s own gain.
Gohar Ali Khan, the former prime minister, claimed in a blog on X that this was a “politically motivated cruel test” and that the former prime minister had “doed no bad.”
” But]Imran Khan ] will not give in, he will not give up, he will not break”, he wrote.
Friday’s ruling comes after several delays as Khan’s gathering held speaks with the government.
Khan stated to reporters in the court after being found guilty on Friday that he would “never make any offer nor get any relief.”
Khan’s greatest sentence in the case is 14 years in prison, which is the utmost that could be given. Additionally, he has received a fine of more than £4,000.
His family received a seven-year sentence and a fine of more than £2,000. Bibi, who has been out on bail since last October, was taken into custody in jury after her word was announced.
Khan was given a three-year prison sentence in 2023 for never declaring the wealth he had earned from selling products while in office.
Last year, Khan received a 14-year jail sentence over the selling of state gifts, and another 10 years for leaking state secrets. Both those sentences were suspended months later.
Despite being in jail and barred from holding public office, Khan still looms large over Pakistan’s political scene. Last year’s election saw candidates backed by Imran Khan winning the most number of seats out of all the parties.
Khan’s prosecution has triggered large-scale protests by his supporters – which have been met with a crackdown from authorities. Thousands of protesters have been arrested and many injured in clashes with the police.