Court reserves verdict on ECP plea against Imran

A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Monday reserved its verdict on a petition filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against PTI chief Imran Khan in the Toshakana case.

In November, a trial court took up the Toshakhana reference filed by the ECP seeking action against Imran for allegedly indulging in corrupt practices, which the former prime minister denies, under criminal law.

The electoral watchdog claimed that Imran allegedly misled officials about the gifts he received from foreign dignitaries during his tenure as the prime minister. It claimed that the PTI chief had “deliberately concealed his assets relating to Toshakhana gifts retained by him particularly in year 2018 and 2019 […] in the statements of assets and liabilities filed for the year 2017-2018 and 2018-19”.

During the hearing on Monday, Additional Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal presided over the hearing while Advocate Saad Hasan represented ECP.

However, Imran, who is recovering from injuries sustained following an assassination bid during a rally on Nov 3, did not attend the hearing.

The court heard arguments from ECP's lawyer who said that Imran had failed to state the amount for which he sold one of the watches.

The ECP’s counsel said that the PTI chief’s declaration statements for the years 2017-2018 and 2020-2021 were correct while the declarations for 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 were “controversial” because some assets were declared in 2021 which were not declared before.

He further contended that Imran took gifts worth Rs107 million during 2018-2019 and the gifts or property taken during that period would be included in his assets.

“During the years 2019-2020, Imran disclosed Rs8 million in his tax return statements in the name of Toshakhana,” the counsel said, adding that Imran did not tell which items amounted to 8m rupees.

He claimed that Imran had stated that a wristwatch, gifted to him by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, was worth Rs85 million but failed to disclose the amount for which he sold it later.

 “The case is not about the wristwatch. Rather, it is about the assets declared by Imran Khan,” he stressed.

He said that Imran and his wife took 58 gifts from the Toshakhana and the value of these items taken by Imran Khan in three years was Rs142 million.

“It is a crime if someone, who is contesting for the Senate, provincial or National Assembly, does not declare his assets,” the ECP counsel said.

He said that Imran had only deposited less than a third of the total worth of all the gifts as he did not want to publicly disclose the value of the gifts. He added that Imran obtained gifts worth Rs107 million from the Toshakhana at 20 per cent of the price.

Hasan said that Imran Khan’s way of dealing with the Toshakhana “is similar to that of money laundering.”

The court after hearing arguments from both sides reserved its verdict which will be announced later.

On October 22, the ECP disqualified Imran from his parliamentary membership for filing “false” and “incorrect declaration” in his statement of assets and liabilities for the year 2020-21 filed with the electoral entity.

In the written judgment, the ECP said: “As per the statement of Imran Khan he had purchased the gifts from Toshakhana paying 21.564 million rupees while the Cabinet Division said that the gifts had a value of 107.943 million.”

“The amount in his bank account was around half of the value of the state gifts. Imran Khan was bound to declare the cash and bank details in his returns but he didn’t declare it,” ECP decision read.