ISLAMABAD: Eye-opening revelations have surfaced in confessional statements of key witnesses obtained by the Geo News, concerning the undervaluation of a jewellery set in the Toshakhana 2 case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi.
The confessional statements are of Khan’s former personal secretary, Inamullah Shah, and the private appraiser of the Bulgari jewellery set, Sohaib Abbasi. The jewellery set was gifted to Khan and his wife by the Saudi royal family when the former held the PM office.
In his statement recorded before the court on Thursday, Shah said he not only received “double salaries” from both the PTI and his government job from 2019 to 2021 but also coerced a private appraiser to undervalue the Bulgari jewellery set. “I asked [Sohaib] Abbasi to reduce the value of the jewellery set,” he said. “I was fired from the job due to Bushra Bibi’s displeasure; there was no complaint of double salary [she] was suspicious that my brother has links with Jahangir Tareen,” Shah remarked, adding that he was posted in Bani Gala as the comptroller of the Prime Minister’s House (PMO).
Echoing his remarks, private appraiser Abbasi admitted to undervaluing the jewellery set due to fear and at the direction of Khan’s former principal secretary who told him to value it at Rs5 million. “[Inamullah] Shah threatened that if the value is not reduced, he will be blacklisted from government departments,” Abbasi told the court. He said he has recorded his confessional statement regarding undervaluing the jewellery set before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman as well as a magistrate.
As per NAB officials, the Bulgari jewellery set’s actual worth was at Rs75 million, but the former PM undervalued it via the private appraiser at Rs5.9 million, which included a necklace, bracelet, earrings and a ring. The anti-graft watchdog alleged that during his term as prime minister, Khan and his wife had received a total of 108 gifts from different heads of state and foreign dignitaries. The jewellery company sold the necklace for €300,000 and earrings for €80,000 on May 25, 2018. The information regarding the price of the bracelet and ring could not be obtained from the company. On May 28, 2021, the price of the jewellery set was estimated at Rs70.56 million; the price of the necklace was Rs50.64 million and the price of the earrings included in the jewellery valued at Rs10.50 million. According to the rules, the 50% price of the jewellery set is approximately Rs35.28 million. The national exchequer suffered a loss of approximately Rs35.28 million after the jewellery was undervalued, as per the NAB reference.
Meanwhile, Imran Khan has written to Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Yahya Afridi for the immediate hearing of related pending petitions before all courts.
The letter, dated September 16, has been sent to the chief justice through his sister Aleema Khan, with her signatures. He wanted the chief justice to direct the Islamabad High Court to also fix pending petitions for hearing, i.e. Al-Qadir trust petitions and Toshakhana revision petitions. “I, as the patron-in-chief of Pakistan’s largest political party, seek only what the Constitution guarantees: justice, dignity and equality before law. I therefore request immediate hearing of pending petitions before all courts,” he wrote.
He also urged the chief justice to allow all telephone calls to his sons as mandated by the jail manual, grant access to Bushra Bibi’s doctors for her medical treatment, and ultimately restore judicial independence of the judiciary in Pakistan. The PTI supremo detailed the conditions he has been kept inside jail.
Talking to media, PTI leader and senior lawyer Latif Khosa said the CJP had sought the ex-premier’s complaints regarding the conditions in jail in writing and assured that his grievances would be addressed and responded to within 24 hours.
At the start, Imran complained about jail conditions and claimed for over 772 days, from a cage measuring 9 x 11, from a dungeon of enforced silence, isolation and incommunicado, he has endured continued solitary confinement ... All access to books and newspapers has been denied to him. He contended that meetings with his lawyer and family were ‘arbitrarily cancelled and that his sons were barred from talking to him on phone and political workers were also not allowed to see him”. “It is not lawful imprisonment since its inception; it is only calculated psychological torture, crafted to break my will ... It is an ongoing assault on the Constitution, the rule of law and the democratic future of my beloved homeland, Pakistan,” he claimed.
The PTI founder complained of alleged inhuman and degrading treatment being meted out to his wife, Bushra Bibi, in jail and pointed out that the superior courts have held that ‘female prisoners are entitled to leniency through bail as a matter of right’. He wrote about ‘thousands of his supporters and party workers who continue to languish in jails’ and what he charged the political victimization of his family members. The PTI founder claimed his party secured a ‘landslide victory’ in last year’s elections despite the ‘brutal tactics’, the suppression of all bold voices, despite his own imprisonment yet the mandate of the people was stolen overnight, turning democracy into [a] farce and the Constitution into a casualty. The same, he wrote, has been sanctioned and rubber-stamped by a leaked report of Commonwealth 2024.
Imran alleged that “the so-called 26th Constitutional Amendment has been used as a tool to sanctify this electoral dacoity, while petitions challenging it lie unheard in your court”. “The courage of the verdicts you inscribe in the book of this nation’s destiny will go down in history. Today Pakistan stands at a defining moment. I urge Your Lordship to uphold the oath of your office and show the people that the Supreme Court of Pakistan remains their final refuge of justice,” he concluded.
A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) would take up the appeals of Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi on September 25 against their sentences in the 190 million pounds reference.
A two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Sardar Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Muhammad Azam Khan would hear the case.
The last hearing on the appeals was held on June 29. An accountability court had announced 14 years imprisonment sentence to the PTI founder on January 17, while Bushra Bibi was awarded seven-year jail term.
On Thursday, Imran again refused to cooperate with an investigation team from the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA). The investigation centres around a controversial post from his official X account.
According to sources at the Adiala Jail, a three-member NCCIA team, led by Deputy Director Ayaz Khan, made its second visit to the facility on Thursday. The team had a list of written questions they intended to present to Khan regarding the post. However, the PTI founder declined to meet the investigators in any way. The team remained at the jail for about 90 minutes and left without achieving their objective. This marks the second time the NCCIA has attempted to question Khan on this matter, with a prior visit occurring on Tuesday.
The sources indicate that the investigation team would continue its efforts to secure a meeting with the former prime minister to obtain his response. The NCCIA’s repeated visits underscore the seriousness with which the authorities are treating the online content.
The PTI founder’s refusal to cooperate adds a layer of complexity to the ongoing investigation, raising questions about the next steps the agency might take to proceed. The situation highlights the intersection of political discourse, digital media and law enforcement in Pakistan.
