RAWALPINDI: A court on Monday rejected the bail pleas filed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife and former first lady Bushra Bibi in the new Toshakhana case where they face allegations of misusing power to acquire state gifts.
Conducting the hearing inside the Adiala jail, where the former PM and first lady also appeared, Special Judge Central Shahrukh Arjumand announced the verdict on the bail pleas filed by the couple.
The development comes as the duo is set to be indicted in the said case on October 2 after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) was barred from pursuing the matter and the case was transferred to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in line with the Supreme Court’s verdict restoring amendments to the anti-corruption laws.
The deposed prime minister has been imprisoned for almost a year upon his conviction in four cases — two Toshakhana references, the cipher case, and the Iddat case, in which his wife is also incarcerated.
The new Toshakhana reference against the couple came to the fore after NAB arrested them shortly after a district and sessions court in Islamabad acquitted Khan and Bushra in the iddat case — also known as the un-Islamic nikah case.
During the hearing today, the FIA prosecutor said that the suspects received the Bulgari (Bvlgari) jewellery set from Saudi Arabia and apprised the court that the agency had obtained records of a necklace and earrings from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“According to the records, both items are valued at Rs71.5 million,” said the prosecutor adding that the couple got it valued at Rs5.8 million from a private firm.
Requesting the court to deny the couple’s bail plea, he further said that the suspects also failed to submit the said jewellery set in the Toshakhana repository — a department under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division that stores precious gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats and officials by heads of other governments and states and foreign dignitaries as a goodwill gesture.
Representing the PTI founder and former first lady, Barrister Salman Safdar contended that the new Toshakhana case was similar to the previous one with similar allegations and approvers.
Referring to the September 6 SC verdict restoring the NAB amendments, the lawyer said that the Toshakhana case against his clients should come to an end following the top court’s ruling.
The court then reserved its verdict, and later announced it after a break in the hearing.
