ISLAMABAD: A local court on Monday reserved its judgment on the admissibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) plea seeking criminal lawsuit proceedings against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman and former premier Imran Khan in the Toshakhana case.
District and Sessions Judge Zafer Iqbal, while hearing the ECP’s application against the PTI chief, reserved its verdict on whether the petition is admissible or not till December 15 after the completion of arguments of the commission’s counsel.
The ECP’s counsel, Saad Hassan, while arguing before the court said that the former premier stated that he constructed a road through the money acquired from Toshakhana gifts. As per law, the prime minister has to deposit the gifts he received in the Toshakhana, he said, adding that as per the law framed in 2018 one can retain Toshakhana gifts after paying 20 percent of the gift’s price.
He further argued that the PTI government had amended the law under which Toshakhana gifts can be retained after paying 50 percent of the price of the gift. The price of the watch was estimated at Rs85 million but Khan failed to show the exact amount for which he sold the Toshakhana watch.
The lawyer said that the case was not related to the watch but it is related to the assets details of Khan. He told the court that Khan and his wife took a total of 58 gifts from Toshakhana during three years which were worth Rs142 million, at an amount equal to 20 percent of the gifts' cost.
He said that Khan acquired the gifts from Toshakhana worth Rs107 million out of the said Rs142 million during 2018-19. Khan did not want to make the gifts worth Rs142 million public, he said.
"In 2019/ 20, Khan declared Rs8 million on account of tax returns but did not reveal which item's price it was," the lawyer stated. If any Toshakhana items were transferred then it was mandatory to mention them in the statement of assets and liabilities, he said.
He said that the ECP believes the statement of assets and liabilities provided by the former premier in 2022-2021 is correct but the statements of 2018-19 and 2019-20 are controversial, adding that the Toshakhana matter was brought to the National Assembly and the case was taken to the high court in 2020-2021.
The lawyer said that Khan in his reply submitted before the ECP stated that all transactions took place through the bank Alfalah account. Khan stated that he sold the gifts in the same year he purchased it; therefore, he did not mention it in the statement.
When it became assets of Khan then it should have been mentioned in his assets statement, he said, adding that Khan wanted to conceal the fact from the public how many gifts he received. It is a criminal act if a person contesting Senate, provincial or National Assembly elections not to declare his assets, he said.
He further said that the objective of hiding details of assets by Khan was tax evasion.
The court after hearing arguments of the ECP’s counsel reserved the verdict till December 15.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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