Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to 14 years in jail in a case related to illegal selling of state gifts, media reports said on Wednesday.
The verdict also includes a 10-year disqualification from holding public office, his party, according to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). The Toshakhana case, which came to the forefront in August 2022, alleges that Khan failed to disclose information about gifts from heads of state deposited in the Toshakhana and the revenue earned by selling them directly in the market.
What is the Toshakhana case?
Pakistan’s anti-corruption agency last month lodged a new reference against the couple in an accountability court, the Dawn newspaper reported. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) accused Imran Khan and his wife of holding onto a jewellry set received from the Saudi crown prince, which was allegedly undervalued.
The verdict in the Toshakhana case comes just eight days ahead of the February 8 general elections, where the PTI is participating amidst a state crackdown and without an electoral symbol. On Tuesday, in another case, a Pak court sentenced the embattled PTI leader to 10 years for leaking state secrets.
Khan was also handed a three-year prison sentence in August by another court for selling gifts worth more than 140 million Pakistani rupees in state possession and received during his time in office. The sentence was later suspended but Khan remains behind bars in connection with other cases. He has said that he legally purchased the items. Pak officials have alleged Khan’s aides sold the gifts in Dubai.
Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in 2022, is not on the ballot because he is already serving a three-year prison term and more than 150 other cases are still pending against him. But Khan remains a potent political force because of his grassroots following and anti-establishment rhetoric. Last year, Pakistan saw violent demonstrations after Khan’s arrest, and authorities have cracked down on the Islamist politician’s supporters and party since then.
The Feb. 8 elections come at a sensitive time in Pakistan, which is mired in an economic crisis that Khan’s successor, Shehbaz Sharif, struggled to manage. Sharif was only able to get a bailout from the International Monetary Fund by agreeing to a substantial increase in tariffs on gas and electricity that led to alarming price hikes on everyday goods and made his party unpopular.
(With agency inputs)
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