A local court in Islamabad has fixed an hearing of the Toshakhana criminal case for Thursday and issued a notice to the Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) to appear in person.
The case will be heard by Additional District and Sessions Judge Hamayun Dilawar.
Earlier, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had overturned the trial court’s decision regarding the maintainability of the Toshakhana case based on a plea by the PTI chairman.
The IHC directed the trial court to re-evaluate the matter within seven days after granting the PTI leader an opportunity to be heard.
The IHC observed that the trial court had dismissed the PTI chief’s petition on weak grounds.
In April, official documents revealed that the PTI chairman, Imran Khan, and his wife had retained 52 free gifts worth millions without paying any amount. The list of gifts received from August 2018 to December 2021 had been kept confidential during his tenure, leading to allegations of withholding information from tax authorities.
Toshakhana is a department under the Cabinet Division responsible for maintaining records of valuable gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, and officials by foreign heads of state and dignitaries as a gesture of goodwill.
The government at the time argued that disclosing any information related to Toshakhana would jeopardize international relations.
The list of gifts showcased various valuable items, including luxury Rolex watches, gold and diamond jewelry, dinner sets, perfumes, and more. The couple retained these items by paying a significantly lower amount than their assessed value.
Among the gifts, the most notable was an Rs85 million Graff wristwatch presented by Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman during Imran Khan’s first visit to the kingdom. However, the former prime minister retained the watch by paying only Rs20 million, drawing attention to the stark difference in value.
