Imran Khan, the former chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), requested to drop his appeal against his disqualification in the Toshakhana case, but the Islamabad High Court (IHC) denied his request on Wednesday.
The former prime minister wished to withdraw his appeal against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) over his disqualification in order to refile it in the Lahore High Court (LHC), according to PTI’s attorney Barrister Ali Zafar, who addressed the court.
On the other hand, Chief Justice IHC Aamer Farooq chose to keep Imran’s appeal against the ECP pending at the federal capital court.
Presents from heads of state, foreign diplomats, and state officials are kept in storage by the Toshakhana, a state department. The Pakistani Constitution states that if a gift recipient wishes to keep it for themselves, they must disclose it to the cabinet division and pay the necessary fee.
In August, Imran was taken into custody and taken to the Attock jail just hours after he was fined Rs100,000 and given a three-year prison sentence by an Islamabad trial court for lying to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), the body that oversees elections, about his assets.
“After a fairly expeditious trial that was started on a criminal complaint of the ECP, this court finds it more than convincing that the complainant [ECP] has provided confidence-inspiring, well-knitted and corroborated evidence and so the charge against the accused has successfully been proven,” the judge stated in his 30-page verdict.
According to the trial court, Imran Khan listed “four goats” as his assets on Form-B for the 2018–2019 fiscal year, but he failed to mention that he had bought priceless gifts from the state’s gift repository, Toshakhana, and sold them to various individuals.
Each legislator is required to send Form B to the ECP once a year. A legislator’s assets and obligations, including their movable and immovable properties inside and outside of Pakistan, are listed on this form.
The ruling states that Imran Khan engaged in “corrupt practices” by fabricating and disseminating false statements about assets he received as presents from the Toshakhana in the years 2018–2019, 2019–2020, and 2020–21.
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