ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad accountability court on Wednesday sentenced Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to 14 years in jail in the Toshakhana reference, local media reported.
They have also been barred from holding any public office for 10 years and were also slapped with a collective fine of Rs787 million. As pe media reports, Bushra Bibi did not appear before the accountability court today. Accountability court Judge Mohammad Bashir conducted the hearing at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail, where the former premier is imprisoned.
During Wednesday’s hearing, the leader of PTI was presented before the judge who asked him regarding his statement under Section 342, as he marked his attendance while his wife Bushra Bibi skipped the hearing. In his response, the accused, who is already convicted in the cipher case, stated it was in his cell as he had been presented only to record his attendance.
After the PTI founder’s response, the accountability court judge ordered “Submit your reply immediate. Don’t waste the court time.”
During the last hearing, which was also held at Adiala jail, Rawalpindi, the court recorded the statement of Bushra Bibi under Section 342.
The crux of the allegations revolves around founder of PTI and his wife Bushra Bibi allegedly retaining gifts received during their official trips to foreign countries. Rather than of following the prescribed official protocol by depositing these gifts in the Toshakhana, they purportedly kept them and contributed an amount less than the stipulated value into the national treasury, local media reported. Bushra is accused of holding on to several jewellery items received as gifts during official trips.
Meanwhile, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had termed the notification of PTI founder’s jail trial in Toshakhana case as valid. The IHC also dismissed the PTI founder’s petitions against the jail trial in the case filed by the NAB. IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Jahangiri had issued a detailed decision while also rejecting the petitioner’s objection over the appointment of the judge.
The verdict comes just a day after a special court constituted under the Official Secrets Act sentenced founder of PTI and Shah Mehmood Qureshi to 10 years in jail for the breach of state secrets.
