NAB Calls Imran Bushra: Imran Khan has been called to appear before Pakistan’s anti-graft agency next month in the Toshakhana gifts case after claims that he bought state goods at a discount.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in Islamabad has called the PTI chairman and his wife Bushra bibi to record their statement on March 9.
The 70-year-old former cricketer who is now a politician has been questioned about the pricey watches and jewelry he purchased from Toshakhana, a government-owned organization under the supervision of the Pakistani Cabinet Division that houses gifts given to members of parliament, ministers, foreign secretaries, the president, and the prime minister.
Khan has also been told to bring the list of diamond gifts, five Rolex watches, an iPhone, and a personalised watch set, according to the call-up notice dated February 17.
Pervaiz Khattak, a former defence minister, has also been called into the Toshakhana case.
An Islamabad court earlier today offered the ousted prime minister respite by delaying his indictment in the Toshakhana case until February 28 and granting him immunity once more.
Toshakhana
By Sections 137, 170, and 167 of the Election Act, the top electoral body sent a referral to the district and sessions court last year asking for the beginning of criminal proceedings against Imran Khan for making an incorrect declaration of his assets for the years 2017–2018 and 2018–19. In the plea, the ECP demanded that the PTI leader serve a three-year prison sentence and pay a fine.
The court accepted the commission’s argument against Mr. Khan on December 15. The court stated in its three-page decision that, at least initially, the former premier did not specify the specifics of the gifts he received from the Toshakhana. The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) filed a complaint with the ECP against Imran Khan in August of last year for failing to disclose the specifics of gifts he received from Toshakhana for Rs 21.5 million.
In a unanimous resolution later in October, the ECP expelled the former prime minister from the parliament for engaging in “corrupt conduct.”