ISLAMABAD, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan was convicted in Al-Qadir University Trust case with a 14-year jail term on Friday for misconduct and misuse of authority.

Spokesperson of Khan's party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf said in a statement that the National Accountability Court had also handed a seven-year jail term to the former prime minister's wife Bushra Bibi.

Judge Nasir Javed Rana of the court announced the verdict in a makeshift courtroom at Adiala Jail in the eastern garrison city of Rawalpindi.

Khan was fined 1 million rupees (about 3,597 U.S. dollars), while his wife was penalized half a million rupees, said the verdict.

According to the verdict, the former prime minister was convicted for "corrupt practices" and "misuse of authority," while his wife was convicted for "involvement in illegal activities."

The Al-Qadir Trust case involved allegations that Khan influenced the cabinet to get approval to deposit 190 million pounds (about 231.5 million U.S. dollars) sent by Britain's National Crime Agency to an account of the Supreme Court of Pakistan instead of the account of the Pakistani government.

The move allegedly benefited a business tycoon, who was supposed to pay a heavy fine in a case to the Supreme Court, and in return, the tycoon helped Khan to construct the Al-Qadir University on donated land.

Khan, who has been languishing in jail in several cases since 2023, claimed that all the cases are politically motivated.

Commenting on the judgment, Khan told media persons in the court that neither he benefited nor the government lost in this whole process of the Al-Qadir Trust case. Enditem

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