MM News

ISLAMABAD: A local court in in the federal capital initiated proceedings under criminal laws against Chairman PTI Imran Khan for allegedly misleading officials about the gifts he received from foreign dignitaries during his tenure as the prime minister.

Also read: Toshakhana fiasco: Who is Umar Farooq Zahoor?

The move came after Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) last week had sent the reference to local district and sessions court of ADSJ Zafar Iqbal, asking it to proceed against Khan under the criminal law for allegedly misleading officials about the Toshakhana gifts. The ECP requested the PTI chief be convicted for the offences mentioned under sections 167 and 173 of the Elections Act 2017.

Also read: Toshakhana case: Trial court sends notice to Imran Khan

Acting on the ECP directives, the court had summoned Imran Khan yesterday, asking him to appear on Tuesday (today) but he didn’t show up.

During the proceedings today, district election commissioner Waqas Ahmed Malik took oath in the court, stating that he had been authorized (by ECP) to proceed. He stated that members of National Assembly and Senate file their returns every year, and the same was done by Imran Khan mentioning his assets from 2018 to 2021.

Also read: PTI denies allegation of selling Toshakhana watch to wanted suspect

After recording the statement of Waqas Ahmed Malik, the hearing was adjourned until December 3.

The ECP reference, it may be mentioned here, stated that Imran Khan had “deliberately concealed his assets relating to Toshakhna gifts retained by him particularly in year 2018 and 2019… in the statements of assets and liabilities filed for the year 2017-201 8 and 2018-19”.

It further said that as per the record, the gifts were purchased from the Toshakhana for Rs21.5 million on the basis of their assessed value, while they were valued at around Rs108m.

Also read: Toshakhana saga: Umar Farooq Zahoor remains wanted by Norwegian Police

According to the reference, Mr Khan “deliberately concealed the material facts by not disclosing the details of gifts… has also made an evasive and ambiguous statement in his written reply that the gifts purchased by him during the financial year 2019-20 were further gifted by him or on his behalf to others”.