Islamabad: Troubles refuse to end for Pakistan's beleaguered former Prime Minister Imran Khan as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday filed a fresh Toshakhana corruption case against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder and his wife Bushra Bibi in a case pertaining to a jewellery set gifted the Saudi Crown Prince. Imran was set to be freed from jail after being behind bars since August last year when a corruption case was filed against him.
According to Geo News, the new and third Toshakhana reference against Imran and his wife came after the NAB interrogated the former prime minister and his wife at the Adiala jail. The case will now be reviewed by the registrar of the accountability courts and sent to the administrative judge Nasir Javed Rana, who is already hearing the £190 million reference against the PTI founder.
The couple was arrested in the second Toshakhana case on July 13, hours after a district and sessions court in Islamabad acquitted them in the iddat case — also known as the un-Islamic marriage case — which was the last hurdle in the couple's release from jail before the filing of the new cases. On Monday, the couple were sent to a 15-day judicial remand in the other Toshakhana case after they submitted their responses.
What is the new case against Imran Khan?
Imran has been behind bars since August last year after he was sentenced in the first Toshakhana criminal case, and subsequently sentenced in other cases ahead of the February 8 elections. Despite securing relief in several cases, the former premier's legal troubles refused to die down as he was booked in several other cases including those related to the May 9 riots.
The new case pertains to a case related to a jewellery set - comprising a ring, bracelet, necklace and a pair of earrings - gifted to former first lady Bushra Bibi by the Saudi crown prince when Imran Khan was the prime minister of the country from 2018 to 2022. The NAB alleged that the couple illegally kept the jewellery set and did not deposit it in the Toshakhana repository used for gifts from foreign guests.
On May 28, 2021, the price of the jewellery set was estimated at Rs 70.56 million; the price of the necklace was Rs 50.64 million and the price of the earrings included in the jewellery valued at Rs 10.50 million back then. "PTI founder and Bushra Bibi have misused their powers. PTI founder retained 58 out of 108 gifts during his prime ministership," alleged the NAB.
'Constant surveillance, party brutally suppressed': Imran
Meanwhile, the former Pakistan PM bemoaned his predicament and said he was "confined in a seven-by-eight-foot death cell, a space typically reserved for terrorists and those on death row" and kept under constant surveillance. He told the UK-based ITV News that his party has been "brutally suppressed" by the ruling authorities.
The 71-year-old congratulated the new British PM for his election victory, but asked him to imagine senior Labour figures being “abducted in the dead of night” during the UK election campaign to understand the erosion of democracy in Pakistan. This came as Imran applied to become the next chancellor of Britain's Oxford University, his party said on Monday.
Khan's party's announcement comes after Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong, announced in February that he would be stepping down as Oxford chancellor, Al Jazeera reported. However, the list of candidates for the 10-year term will not be made public until October, according to the university's website, and voting is to take place at the end of that month.
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