Islamabad High Court on Monday suspended former Prime Minster Imran Khan’s and wife Bushra Bibi’s 14-year sentences in the Toshakhana case( state treasure house) related to selling state gifts that he received while in office. The trial court had sentenced them on Jan 31 this year, just a week before the general elections on Feb 8.
The high court said that the Toshakhana sentences would remain suspended till the Eid holidays begin in 10 days until Imran Khan’s appeal case. Imran Khan’s lawyer Ali Zafar told the reporters on Monday why the High Court put the sentences on hold at the appeal’s first appeal itself. Zafar says, “No evidence backs up this conviction” supporting his arguments.
Despite the suspensions, the ex-PM will not be released as he was convicted in two other cases ahead of polls. The trial court also barred Imran and Bushra from holding any public office for 10 years and even fined a hefty amount of 787 million Pak rupees which is $.8 million each, ruling days before the general elections which Imran’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf alleged was massively rigged.
Imran Khan responds to all these allegations by dismissing them as ‘trumped-up‘ charges to keep him out of politics at the behest of the powerful army.
What happened in the Toshakhana Case?
Toshakhana is a department under the Cabinet Division which keeps gifts and expensive things received by all public officials. Under this department rules, it pertains to gifts as long as they pay a price for them. However, the gifts should be first deposited.
The rules say that PMs and Presidents can keep gifts which costs below PKR 30,000 for themselves. The rule also allows the Public officials too pay 50 percent which was updated by Imran Khan himself in 2018 from 20 percent, of the gift’s value to retain other gifts.
But the husband wife duo did not deposit the gifts or kept them for a lower price by using their authority.
The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) claimed that Khan did not disclose information regarding gifts presented to the Toshakhana and also allegedly resorted to the “illegal” sale of certain gifts. The gifts included expensive cufflinks, expensive Rolex watches, a ring and a valuable pen. The priciest among the watches, a “Master Graff limited edition,” is estimated at $300,000, as per Pakistan’s information minister.
But who accused the Khan couple?
The case against Imran and his wife was filed by the NAB(National Accountability Bureau) which is popularly known as Pakistan’s watchdog, accusing the couple for retaining a jewelry set received from the Saudi Crown Prince against an undervalued assessment.
NAB claims that the Khan duo had received a total of 108 gifts from various heads of state and foreign diginatries when he was PM from 2018 to April 2022. Imran is also accused of not disclosing assests from alleged sale of such state gifts valued at more than PKR 14crores !
Day after the toshakhana sentences, Imran and his wife were sentenced to seven years in a case related to their marriage during latter’s Iddat- a mandatory waiting period for a women after the divorce or the death of her previous husband. Before that, the special court sentenced Imran Khan and then- foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to 10 years for breach of state secrets in the cipher case. So after, Khan has been convicted in four different cases since losing power in April 2022.
