New Delhi: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief and former Prime Minister Imran Khan may be arrested soon in the Toshakhana case. Khan, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, is alleged to have paid for only a part of the goods he took home from the ‘Toshakhana’, but most of the goods he took from the government treasury were carried without paying for them. He was accused of failing to report gifts received and of concealing facts in his statements. Imran Khan reportedly earned lakhs of rupees from jewel-grade watches given by foreign dignitaries. A district and sessions court on Monday (March 13) restored Khan’s non-bailable arrest warrant in the Toshakhana case. The Islamabad police also reached Lahore on 5 March, but were told that Khan was not at his Zaman Park residence, resulting in them leaving empty-handed.
What is Toshakhana case?
Toshakhana (House of the Treasury) is a government department under the Cabinet Division. The State Depository was established in 1974 and holds gifts donated to Pakistani leaders (only the President and Prime Minister are exempt from receiving such gifts). The President or the Prime Minister can keep gifts of less than Rs 30,000 for themselves. However, more expensive gifts are required by law to be kept in the toshakhana. The two prime ministers of Pakistan can also keep valuable gifts from the Toshakhana by paying a specified proportion of the value as decided by the government.
What are the allegations against Imran Khan?
According to Dawn, Imran Khan received 31 gifts from July 2018 to June 2019, but only paid for four of them as the law states that any gift less than 30,000 Pakistani rupees can be kept unpaid.
In August 2022, Pakistan’s ruling coalition filed a petition with the Election Commission seeking lifetime disqualification of Imran for failing to disclose information about gifts from Toshakhana in his asset declaration.
In his reply to the ECP, Imran admitted to selling four gifts he received from various heads of state as prime minister. He claimed that the gifts he bought from Toshakhana for Rs 21.56 million were sold for around Rs 58 million. One of the gifts included a Graff watch and some cufflinks, a ring and an expensive pen, while the other three included four Rolex watches.
However, according to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the former prime minister made “false statements and false declarations” regarding the gifts on October 21, 2022. The ECP barred him from holding public office for five years.
Imran Khan retained some of the most expensive gifts at the rate of 20%, despite increasing the retention amount from 20% to 50% of the appraised value when he came to power. As a result, over the course of nearly three years, the average retention amount they paid on all gifts was just 27%, Dawn quoted ECP as saying.
Dawn said that according to the ECP’s estimate, Khan earned 104.7 million Pakistani rupees from the gifts he kept and sold.