‘Watch thief’ ruled country: Imran undervalued Rs6bn Toshakhana gifts, says Atta Tarar

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Interior and Legal Affairs Atta Tarar Friday accused former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan of not only retaining the state gifts by paying a fraction of the assessed value, but also underestimating the value of gifts in many cases thus inflicting a loss of billions on the state kitty.

Addressing a news conference here, Tarar presented a new cache of documents showing the gifts received by Imran and his family during his tenure as prime minister and the actual price paid by him to retain them.

Tarar pointed to three gifts presented to Imran and the former first lady Bushra Bibi in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

He said in 2019, Imran was gifted a jewelry set comprising a locket, a pair of earrings, two bracelets, and two rings. The set has an estimated value of $2 million but in the Toshakhana, the assessed value of the gift was shown to be just Rs1.119 million, local media reports.

To retain it, Imran paid around 50% (Rs544,700) of the value. Tarar claimed that no one was permitted under the law to sell the Toshakhana gifts.

Other precious gifts which were undervalued, Tarar claimed, included a jewelry set by Graff comprising rare yellow emeralds and diamonds. The set comprised a necklace a pair of earrings, a bracelet and a ring.

It was presented to the first lady by the leaders of a friendly country.

The set was valued at $15 million (Rs3.38 billion) but its assessed value in Toshakhana was shown to be just Rs18 million.

Imran retained it by depositing Rs9.03 million in the exchequer – around 50% of the assessed value.

In 2021, the first lady was presented a jewelry set by Italian luxury goods brand Bvlgari containing a necklace, a pair of earrings, a bracelet, and a ring.

The set had an estimated value of $5 million (Rs1.13 billion) but its assessed value was shown as just Rs5.86 million. Against this, Imran paid around half of the assessed value (Rs2.91 million).

“Where is the set? Is it at his home or has it been sold to anyone?” he asked.

He said that there were more examples of Imran pawning off state gifts to enrich himself.

“Unfortunately, a watch thief was prime minister of the country,” he lamented.