ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a new reference on Tuesday in the Toshakhana case against Imran Khan, the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and his wife, Bushra Bibi. Case Officer Waqar Hassan and Investigating Officer Mohsin Haroon presented the referral to an accountability court in Islamabad.
The pair is charged with buying and then selling a jewelry set from the Toshakhana in the latest NAB reference. The set is estimated to be worth Rs. 75 million. This incident occurred one day after Bushra Bibi and the founder of the PTI were placed under judicial custody by IHC. The pair is being investigated for allegedly misusing gifts that they received from foreign dignitaries while they were in government.
The couple’s exoneration in the Iddat case came on July 13, but PTI’s happiness was short-lived as the accountability watchdog detained the PTI supremo and his spouse in a fresh Toshakhana scandal. Hours after their acquittal in the Iddat case, Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were taken into custody on July 13 in connection with a new National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference about Toshakhana.
According to those with knowledge of the incident, Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi were taken into custody by the NAB team led by Deputy Director Mohsin Haroon from the Adiala Jail. The change occurred when the appeals against their conviction in the Iddat case filed by former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his spouse Bushra Bibi were allowed by the Islamabad district and sessions court.
A trial court had earlier this year declared the couple’s nikah to be fraudulent, leading to their seven-year prison sentence and a Rs. 500,000 fine each. With the verdict, the last legal barrier that had been preventing the ousted prime leader from leaving prison is removed. In the cipher case, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) cleared him, but his sentences in the two Toshakhana cases were suspended.
