Govt, PTI spar over foreign gifts

ISLAMABAD:

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan had purchased at least four expensive gifts at one fifth - Rs21 million - of their government-assessed rates of Rs102 million before the federal cabinet revised the rules and increased the price tags in December 2018, sources told The Express Tribune.

An expensive watch was among the four gifts that Imran Khan had decided to retain after paying their nominal price, a senior government official revealed on Friday, who said that the other three gifts include a pen, ring and cufflinks.

The assessed value of the watch was Rs85 million while the pen’s worth was estimated to be Rs15 million, the ring Rs9 million and the cufflinks Rs6 million.

The sources also disclosed that the new government has also found details of some gifts received during the previous government, including a gold-plated weapon, missing from the list.

Moreover, former PM Khan had bought these gifts under the rules defined by the federal cabinet – the Procedure for the Acceptance and Disposal of Gifts – a process that had also been followed by his predecessors to retain gifts given to them by foreign dignitaries.

However, the rules were last amended on December 18, 2018 – after the former premier had already purchased the gifts under the old rules.

It is pertinent to note here that the assessed value is often far lower than the market price of the gift and has remained a focus of investigations in the past.

The revelations come as the newly-formed government and the former ruling party spar over the way the gifts were handled during the latter's tenure.

'Imran sold gifts in Dubai'

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said he can confirm that his predecessor, PTI Chairman Imran Khan, took gifts from the Toshakhana and sold them in Dubai.

"Imran Khan sold these gifts for Rs140 million in Dubai," PM Shehbaz was reported as telling journalists during an iftar he hosted a day earlier in the federal capital.

The valuable gifts include diamond jewellery, bracelets, watches and sets, he said.

The previous government on several occasions refused to provide details of foreign gifts received by then-PM Imran and approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to stop Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) from making the details of the gifts public.

The government maintained that the disclosure of any information related to Toshakhana would jeopardise international ties.

Toshakhana is a department under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division.

Established in 1974, it stores precious gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats and officials by heads of other governments, states and foreign dignitaries.

It is mandatory that gifts of a certain value are kept in Toshakhana. However, officials can keep these gifts provided they pay a certain percentage of the price assessed by the Toshakhana evaluation committee.

The Toshakhana rules are clear about retaining gifts received by the head of the government and the former Prime Minister had followed those rules, said former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry while talking to The Express Tribune.

‘If it is mine I can sell’

Meanwhile, responding to the allegations levelled by the PML-N, PTI leader and former information minister Fawad Chaudhry clarified that the former prime minister had paid a percentage of the assessed price, adding it will also be reflected in his annual income tax returns.

However, the former minister said he was not aware of the details of other gifts received by Imran.

Speaking to a private channel, he asserted that no matter what the price of the watch was, “if it is mine I can sell that it. Nobody should have a problem with it”.

The former minister advised PM Shehbaz Sharif to refrain from “superficial gossip” and focus on national issues.

However, the sources said that the decision to sell the watch in Dubai did not go down well with a friendly country that had gifted it to Imran Khan as a gesture of brotherhood.

“The foreign government was of the view that the watch was custom-made and there were only two such watches,” sources added.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb has accused former prime minister Imran Khan of selling gifts worth millions of rupees received from foreign governments.

“He [Imran Khan] bought cufflinks, ring and watch for Rs20 million from Toshakhana and sold it for Rs180 million in the market,” said the ruling party spokesperson while speaking to the media in Islamabad.

“Gold-plated Kalashankof is also missing and it will be recovered from Bani Gala [residence of former PM Imran].”

The ruling party’s spokesperson said that a “gang” that ruled the country for the last few years kept trying to fool the people.

Marriyum said that the former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government, under the guise of national security, refused to reveal the details of Toshakhana because “they sold gifts” received from the foreign dignitaries in the market.

The PML-N spokesperson said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif does not believe in the politics of revenge.

Commenting on the corruption cases against Shehbaz and his son Hamza Shehbaz who were detained for months, she said that no corruption or money laundering could be proved.

She said that the record present with the former government did not have any evidence of economic misdeeds, and the people were being fooled.

Speaking about other issues, the spokesperson said that the chief military spokesperson Major General Babar Iftikhar had exposed the “lies” of PTI chief Imran that the US had orchestrated his ouster from power.

“For the first time in the country’s history the corrupt rulers were removed from power through constitutional means and today all institutions are working independently,” she added.