Pak court declares Toshakhana corruption case against Imran Khan inadmissible

Pakistani court on Tuesday overturned the ruling of a sessions court and declared the Toshakhana corruption case against the former prime minister inadmissible

Islamabad: In a relief to embattled Imran Khan, a top Pakistani court on Tuesday overturned the ruling of a sessions court and declared the Toshakhana corruption case against the former prime minister inadmissible.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Khan, 70, was indicted in the Toshakhana case on May 10 by Additional Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar, who rejected objections about the admissibility of the case.

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The PTI chief then approached the Islamabad High Court, which had stayed criminal proceedings on the case till June 8.

Following the resumption of the hearing in June, Justice Aamer Farooq on June 23 reserved his verdict on the petition, saying that he would look into the matter after Eid ul-Adha.

On Tuesday, the IHC Chief Justice Farooq pronounced the verdict on a petition filed by the former prime minister, challenging the Toshakhana trial proceedings. The verdict came a day after the PTI chief petitioned the court for Justice Farooq’s recusal from the bench, Dawn newspaper reported.

The Toshakhana is a department under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division and stores precious gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and officials by heads of other governments and states and foreign dignitaries.

The Toshakhana issue over the sale of state gifts received by the cricketer-turned-politician became a major issue in national politics after the Election Commission of Pakistan disqualified the former premier for making “false statements and incorrect declaration”.

Khan is facing more than 140 cases across the country and faces charges like terrorism, violence, blasphemy, corruption and murder.

Khan was accused of misusing his 2018 to 2022 premiership to buy and sell gifts in state possession that were received during visits abroad and worth more than Rs140 million (USD 635,000).

The IHC asked the sessions court to consider the former prime minister’s plea as pending and decide it afresh within seven days.

“The application in question shall be deemed to be pending and decided afresh by the learned trial court within seven days from the receipt of this judgment, keeping in view the law in question and observations made above,” the court order reads.

The IHC also observed that the sessions court had left the “issue undecided and dismissed the application of the petitioner with scanty reasons which left the main legal issues undecided or unresolved”.

It added that it would be only proper for the trial court to decide the application afresh after hearing the parties with detailed reasons, the report added.

In the petition, the former prime minister — who was removed from power via a no-confidence motion in April last year — sought the transfer of the two Toshakhana cases to another bench in the interest of a “fair and impartial” trial.

The petition has also named the district election commission as the respondent.

Meanwhile, the PTI chief’s lawyer, Gohar Khan, has termed the verdict a “victory”.

“An appeal was filed against the decision of the session judge in the Toshakhana case,” he said, adding that the wrong person filed the complaint.