Toshakhana: lawyer picks holes in testimony
PHOTO: FILE
An accountability court on Saturday recorded the statements of two more witnesses, including an employee of a Dubai-based Indian company, in the Toshakhana reference against PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi.
Judge Muhammad Basheer conducted the hearing at Adiala Jail, where the PTI founder was brought before the court.
The statement of Imran Bashir, an employee of Rainbow Enterprises, the Indian company that estimated the value of the Graff jewellery set and bracelet watch, was recorded.
Witness Bashir apprised the court that the company was approached for an estimate by the council general of Pakistan.
“The company entrusted me with the estimation of the Graff jewellery set and bracelet watch. The company asked me to research the market value of these items.
“I estimated the value of the gifts after taking input from diamond dealers and jewellery outlets.”
Bashir apprised the court that the value of the “jewellery set was estimated at $19.492 million”.
The report was submitted to the office of the council general of Pakistan, he added.
After the statement of the witness was completed, lawyer Sardar Shahbaz Khosa started the cross-examination.
Read also: IHC reserves verdict on Imran’s plea against Toshakhana, £190 million case jail trial
The witness said that Mohsin Habib gave the photographs for the estimation of the Graff jewellery set.
The witness said that he worked as a part time salesman at the company, adding that the said items were not physically handed over to him for estimation.
The lawyer asked was it true that he received a fabricated report from NAB which he provided to the counsel general?
The witness replied that it was not true, adding that it was true that market research documents with reference to estimation of gifts were not produced before the IO.
The lawyer inquired whether the market research documents were not placed before the IO because no research was conducted.
The witness replied that it was not true.
“It is true that the input documents of the diamond expert were not provided to the IO.”
The lawyer questioned that the unit of measurement of diamond is carat, but in the report, gramme was written.
The witness termed it a “clerical error”.
Read: More Toshakhana witnesses give testimonies
The lawyer said that neither the colour nor the clarity of the diamond was written, so how its value could be estimated?
“Can you estimate the value of a diamond by looking at the picture?”
The witness replied that the value of the diamond could only be estimated from its specification and not from the picture.
The lawyer said that there were many multinational companies in Dubai, but the value of the gifts was estimated by an Indian company.
After rejection by all the multinational companies, the witness stated, an Indian company was approached for estimation.
The court also recorded the statement of another witness, NAB officer Mustansar.
On NAB's attempt to record the statement of security chief Inamullah Shah at Bani Gala, the PTI founder demanded that before recording the statement of Inamullah, he should take an oath by placing his hand on the Holy Quran.
“If the witness puts his hand on the Quran, I will also keep it.”
The court adjourned the hearing till Jan 23.