Witnesses testify against Imran in gifts case
When Islamabad Additional District and Sessions Court (West) Judge Humayun Dilawar resumed hearing of the gift repository—Toshakhana—case on Monday, ECP's counsel Saad Hasan gave arguments in support of adding four new witnesses to the list. PHOTO: FILE
The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar on Thursday recorded the statements of two witnesses in the Toshakhana (gift depository) criminal proceedings case against PTI Chairman and deposed premier Imran Khan.
Imran’s lawyer Khawaja Haris will begin the cross-examination of the two witnesses on Friday (today).
Accepting the PTI chairman’s request, the judge ordered that one witness would testify before the court while the other would wait outside.
The first witness Waqas Malik said he was authorised by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) through a letter to file a complaint against Imran under Section 190(3) of the elections act.
He added that the National Assembly speaker sent a reference to the ECP on which it issued a notice to the PTI chief.
Malik continued that Imran had filed a reply to the notice, providing details of his assets in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Malik testified that Imran had told the ECP in 2018-19 that he took four gifts from Toshakhana.
He added that a challan of over Rs21.5 million was presented by the former premier.
The Toshakhana estimated the value of the gifts at around Rs107 million.
The stand taken by Imran was that he had sold the gifts for Rs58 million in 2018 and 2019.
Also read Court summons PTI chief in Toshakhana case
When Malik said the Toshakhana record of the PTI chief consisted of 16 pages, ECP lawyer Amjad Pervaiz corrected him that there were 116 pages.
Haris objected over Pervaiz’s interference in the testimony, pointing out that the witness had mentioned 16 pages earlier.
Pervaiz and Haris became engaged in a heated exchange of words.
The judge reprimanded the PTI lawyer for constantly raising objections.
The second witness, ECP Deputy Director Confidential Mussadik Anwar, while recording his statement, said he had checked the 231-page bank statements of Imran on behalf of the ECP.
The hearing was later adjourned until Friday (today).
In a related matter, Imran was unable to acquire immediate relief from the Islamabad High Court to stop the trial court proceedings in the Toshakhana case.
Instead, the IHC issued a notice on the injunction request, adjourning the hearing till next week.
IHC Chief Justice Justice Aamer Farooq issued a detailed verdict on a plea challenging the trial court’s decision to declare the Toshakhana case admissible.
The detailed judgement read that the petitioner’s lawyer said the court had sent the matter back to the trial court on July 4 with eight legal questions and ordered to decide it again within seven days.
This period was supposed to be completed on July 12, but the trial court hastily pronounced the verdict on July 8.
Referring to the decision of the top court, the lawyer said if the trial court did not answer the questions sent by this court, the matter should be sent to another one.
In the case of the alleged illegal marriage of Imran and Bushra Bibi being heard by Civil Judge Qudratullah, arguments were sought while accepting the couple’s exemption from appearance requests.