ISLAMABAD: In the Toshakhana case, an accountability court on Wednesday imposed a 14-year prison term on former prime minister Imran Khan and his spouse, Bushra Bibi.
In addition, the PTI founder faces a 10-year disqualification, and the couple faces a fine of Rs1.573 billion.
Accountability Judge Mohammad Bashir asked Khan about filing his statement under Section 342 during the hearing. At which point the former prime minister announced that he was ready to make his statement and would do so once his attorneys arrived. Later, the PTI founder left the courtroom.
Subsequently, the judge gave the jail administration instructions to request that Khan appear in court. But the judge was told by the jail staff that the PTI founder was not yet prepared to appear in court.
The Toshakhana case had seen the formal charging of Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi earlier this month. The court has filed separate charges against Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi in relation to the Toshakhana case, and the hearing took place in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi.
The Toshakhana Case: What is it?
It is alleged that between 2018 and 2022, when Imran Khan was prime minister, he received priceless gifts from Toshakahan at a discounted rate, which he later sold for $635,000.
A precious Saudi Arabian wristwatch with a model of the Holy Kaaba is among the presents Imran Khan received. Based on estimates from the international market, the watch was worth over 600 million.
Article 63(1) of the Constitution states that the PTI founder submitted false statements regarding gifts and assets. The Election Commission of Pakistan found him guilty in the Toshakhana case on October 21, 2022.
A few days later, the election monitor filed a petition in session court, requesting that the former PTI chief be charged with a crime.
After finding Imran Khan guilty of giving false information on May 10, 2023, the trial court was ordered to reconsider the case by the Islamabad High Court on July 4, which ruled that the session court's ruling was invalid.
In the Toshakhana case, Imran Khan was given a three-year prison sentence by the local court on August5, 2023. Nonetheless, the Islamabad High Court upheld his disqualification and suspended the sentence in a decision on December 21.
Imran Khan, the founder of the PTI, and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, his deputy, were found guilty in a cipher case by a special court formed under the Official Secrets Act one day earlier.
During the case hearing at Adiala Jail Rawalpindi, Judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain gave the former foreign minister and prime minister each a ten-year prison sentence.
Both political leaders were given a questionnaire by the judge to document their statements under Section 342. The court received the answers to 36 questions from both PTI leaders.
The judge questioned Imran Khan about the whereabouts of the cipher, which the founder of the PTI has claimed contained evidence of a US conspiracy to topple his government, before imposing the sentence.
In response, the former prime minister said that he was not in charge of the security of the prime minister's residence and that the cipher was not in his possession.
The court found the defendant guilty in the case and subsequently handed down the jail sentence.