ISLAMABAD: An Accountability Court on Thursday fixed January 4 for the indictment of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi in the Toshakhana corruption reference.

The Accountability Court judge, Muhammad Bashir, while hearing the case at Adiala jail set January 4 to frame the charge against Khan and his wife in the Toshakhana case. National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi and members of PTI’s legal team appeared before the court.

During the hearing, copies of the reference and other necessary documents have been provided to the accused. The court adjourned the hearing of the case on January 4.

The anti-graft watchdog filed the reference against Khan and his wife on December 21. Khan was disqualified on October 21, 2022, from the National Assembly for five years by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) after he was found guilty of concealing facts about selling expensive gifts.

According to the NAB, the inquiry proceedings have revealed that as former prime minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan was presented with 108 gifted state assets, out of the same, 58 gifted state assets were retained by Khan. He did not deposit the gifted state assets in Toshakhana for fair price assessment in contravention of rules and subsequently retained said gifted state items worth millions of rupees, it says.

The gifted state assets were retained without fair price assessment for your benefit,it said, adding that moreover, Khan sold/misappropriated some of the gifted state assets for personal benefit.

The NAB said that investigation proceedings further revealed that during Bushra Bibi being the wife of ex-PM, received gifts from foreign dignitaries amounting to millions of rupees and retained these gifts against a meager retention cost based on under value assessment/appraisement.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023