Islamabad, Pakistan
P.A.
—
A Pakistani court on Friday sentenced already-jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife to 14 and seven years in prison after finding them guilty of corruption, officials and his lawyer said.
The couple is accused of accepting a donation of land from a real estate tycoon in exchange for money laundered when Khan was in power.
Prosecutors say businessman Malik Riaz was then allowed by Khan to pay fines imposed on him in another case with the same laundered money of £190 million ($240 million) that had was returned to Pakistan by the British authorities in 2022 for deposit. to the Public Treasury.
Khan has denied any wrongdoing and has insisted since his arrest in 2023 that all charges against him were a plot by rivals to prevent him from returning to office.
Khan, who was ousted in a vote of no confidence in Parliament in April 2022, had previously been found guilty of corruption, revealing official secrets and violating marriage laws in three separate verdicts and sentenced to 10, 14 and 14 years respectively. seven years. Under Pakistani law, he must serve the sentences concurrently, that is, the length of the longest sentence.
This is a developing story.