Farah Shehzadi acted as ‘frontperson’ for former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in the £190 million corruption case, an investigation officer said on Friday.

In his report, National Accountability Bureau Deputy Director Mian Umar Nadeem Nadeem said that the cabinet had approved the establishment of a Recovery Unit to repatriate assets held abroad.

Under the direction of the-then adviser to the PM on accountability Mirza Shahzad Akbar, secret letters were written to the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) country manager. The NCA also obtained freezing orders to block the flow of criminal proceeds.

According to Nadeem’s statement, recorded before the accountability court judge on July 30, he was granted the authority to investigate the reference on December 7, 2022, and the investigation began on April 28, 2023.

A private town purchased 458 kanals, 4 marlas, and 58 square feet of land between April 4 and April 30, 2019. The purchased land was transferred to Al-Qadir Trust University by the accused Zulfiqar Bukhari. After the transfer of the land, Bukhari, Mirza, and Malik Riaz met with the founding chairman.

Report stated that 240 kanals (30 acres) of land in Mohra Noor, Islamabad was “fraudulently” transferred to the name of Farah Shehzadi, allegedly on behalf of the Al-Qadir Trust. But the PTI founder and Bibi “failed” to provide evidence to support the sale of the land.

The investigative officer further claimed that on July 11, 2019, a note citing “mala fide intentions” was written to the PTI founder regarding the rightful ownership of the land. This note was later presented to the cabinet meeting on December 3, 2019 for approval, but was submitted in a sealed envelope, with insistence on its approval.

It added that the Trust Deed was signed by Ziaul Mustafa Naseem as a witness, without seeking input from the ministries of finance, foreign affairs and law. The trust was later amended to include the PTI founder, Bibi and Bukhari as members. The report also states that Bushra Bibi signed an “Acknowledgement of Gift” document on March 24, 2021, further implicating her in the land fraud scheme.