Week before elections, Imran Khan & wife get 14-year sentence in Toshakhana case

Week before elections, Imran Khan & wife get 14-year sentence in Toshakhana case

New Delhi: Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment by an accountability court in Pakistan in the Toshakhana case Wednesday.

Khan and Bibi were also barred from holding public office for the next 10 years.

The convictions come a day after both Khan and his foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi were jailed for 10 years by a special court established under the Official Secrets Act in the cipher case. In that case, Khan was convicted for allegedly revealing state secrets.

Khan and Bibi were also fined PKR 1,574 million by the accountability court Wednesday, according to media reports. The couple were indicted in the case on 9 January.

The two convictions come close to the 8 February general election in Pakistan, where Khan’s political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is running without an electoral symbol amid a state crackdown on it.

The party could also be banned given the convictions, as reported by ThePrint earlier.

What is the Toshakhana case?

The Toshakhana (gift repository) is a government department in Pakistan, which collects and keeps gifts received by members of parliament, ministers, secretaries, the prime minister and the president.

Khan and Bibi allegedly retained gifts received during their official visits to foreign countries, during Khan’s term as prime minister. The couple were accused of paying the treasury much less than the gifts’ original value.

Bibi was indicted for holding onto various jewellery items, including a locket, two rings, two ear tops and two bracelets received during an official foreign visit in June 2019, according to the Express Tribune.

The list expanded in 2020 and 2021 to include a diamond-studded gold necklace, rings, bracelets, ear tops and another necklace. Bibi allegedly refused to return the gifts to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

In August last year, Khan was handed a three-year prison sentence by another court for selling gifts worth more than $501,000 which he received during his 2018 to 2022 premiership.

Wednesday’s verdict was linked to the same matter after an investigation by the country’s top anti-corruption body, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), which also charged his wife in the case.

Last August’s three-year sentence was later suspended but the former prime minister remains behind bars in connection with other cases. Government officials have alleged Khan’s aides sold the gifts in Dubai.

According to Reuters, Bushra Bibi was arrested soon after the verdict on Wednesday.

Khan’s earlier conviction had resulted in a five-year ban from holding public office, ruling the 71-year-old out of the upcoming 8 February election. Wednesday’s verdict means he will be ineligible for office till he is 81.

‘Mockery of law,’ says PTI  

After the sentencing, the PTI decried the “complete destruction of every law in Pakistan”, referring to both the sentences handed down to Khan in the last two days.

“Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi have faced yet another kangaroo trial in which no right to defence was given to both. Like cipher, this case has no basis to stand in any Higher court. It’s shameful how a complete disregard and mockery of law is in place,” the PTI said on X.

The party’s secretary general Omar Ayub Khan called the sentences a “travesty of justice” and urged supporters to vote enmasse during the general elections slated for 8 February.

“We should harness and channel these energies for the polling day on 8th February 2024 by ensuring a massive voter turnout to ensure that PM Imran Khan’s nominated candidates are returned to the assemblies with a thumping majority,” Khan said on X.

(Edited by Tikli Basu)