IHC dismisses Toshakhana case against PTI chief

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday announced its reserved verdict providing relief to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief as it declared the criminal proceedings against him in the Toshakhana (gift repository) case inadmissible. On November 22 last year, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had sent the Toshakhana reference to the trial court for initiating criminal proceedings against the PTI chief under sections 137, 170 and 167 of the Election Act, 2017. The reference was sent to the court a month after a four-member ECP bench unanimously declared that the PTI chairman had misled officials about the gifts he had received from foreign dignitaries during his tenure as prime minister. On March 30, the trial was adjourned till April 29 in view of Ramazan and Eid holidays. However, on April 4, the election supervisor requested the court to set an earlier date for hearing the case and the court on April 8 decided to hear the ECP's request on April 11. Meanwhile, 10 cases filed in Islamabad local court against the deposed premier have been moved to the Judicial Complex. A notification in this regard has also been issued. Two cases filed in Shahzad Town and Tarnol police stations would be heard today. Cases filed in Karachi Company, Kohsar, Ramna, Secretariat, Margalla and Khanna police stations would also be heard on Tuesday. Read ACE summons Imran, his sister in Layyah corruption scandal Notably, a trial court had rejected the PTI chief's request to declare the Toshakhana case against him as inadmissible and declared the trial against the chairman of PTI admissible. This was later challenged in the IHC. Upon this, the high court had extended the order to stay the proceedings against the former premier and on June 23, after the completion of the arguments from both sides, the court reserved its verdict and adjourned the hearing. According to the reserved verdict announced today, the IHC has accepted the petition filed by chairman PTI against the May 5 decision of the trial court and directed the lower court to review its verdict. The IHC has granted the trial court seven days' time to decide the case. Interestingly, the PTI chief had only yesterday expressed a lack of confidence in the bench of judges hearing the Toshakhana case, which included IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq. Toshakhana reference Official documents revealed in April that the PTI chief and his wife had retained 52 free gifts worth millions "without paying a single penny". The list of Toshakhana gifts received by the ex-PM Imran between August 2018 and December 2021 had remained a secret during his tenure, making the situation scandalous to reports of hiding the information from the tax authorities. The Toshakhana is a department under the Cabinet Division that maintains the record of the precious gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, and officials by heads of other governments, states, and foreign dignitaries as a goodwill gesture. The then government had adopted the stance that the disclosure of any information related to Toshakhana would jeopardise international ties. The list of gifts showed that the other valuables were kept by the couple after paying a meagre amount, much less than the assessed value. Read More Imran fails to appear before Jinnah House attack case JIT From seven luxurious Rolex and other expensive watches to gold and diamond jewellery including multiple necklaces, bracelets, rings, multiple diamond chains, an expensive pen and cufflinks worth millions, dinner sets, perfumes, and Oud fragrance, the couple retained everything that different states of the world were gifting to Pakistan. The most precious gift was presented by Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman during the very first visit of Imran to the Kingdom. However, to the irony, the Rs85 million Graff wristwatch was retained by the former prime minister by paying only Rs20 million. Earlier, the trial court had declared the trial against the chairman PTI admissible, against which the party chief had filed an application, on which the IHC stopped the proceedings against the ousted PM. The order was extended. Later, the court reserved its decision. The high court accepted the petition filed by the chairman PTI against the decision of the trial court. Chief Justice Amir Farooq gave a safe verdict, according to which the court declared the Toshakhana criminal proceedings case inadmissible.