On Wednesday, the Islamabad High Court (HC) ordered the Cabinet Division to release the details about the gifts former Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan received from foreign envoys. Khan’s failure to disclose the gifts has been under scrutiny from the newly-inducted government of PM Shehbaz Sharif, which has accused Khan of selling the gifts at a higher price in Dubai after he purchased them from the state for a nominal amount.
In fact, an inquiry into the matter was first initiated by the Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) last summer, wherein it urged the then-Cabinet Division to “provide the requested information about the gifts received by (former) Prime Minister Imran Khan from foreign heads of states, heads of governments and other foreign dignitaries… description/specification of each gift, information about the gifts retained by the PM and the rules under which gifts thus received are retained by him.”
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The PIC asserted that the record must be made public, arguing that it is not “certified information, but absence of certified information [that] contributes to ‘media hype’ and results in ‘unwarranted stories,’ creating trust deficit between citizens and public institutions.” Keeping this in mind, the declaration of the gifts received during Khan’s tenure was deemed necessary to avoid “rumours” about the misuse of public gifts by public officials and their retention price.
Thereafter, the former Cabinet Division appealed to the Islamabad HC to declare the PIC’s order “illegal [and] without lawful authority,” countering that the release of information on the Toshakhana, or the public gift repository, would jeopardise diplomatic relations. The Khan-led government also argued that the details of the gifts could not be publicised, as they were “classified / secret.”
However, since the ouster of Khan on April 10, the newly-appointed Cabinet Division has sought permission to make the details public. Likewise, the Federal Investigation Agency has also launched an inquiry into the matter.
In this regard, HC Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb asserted that since there was no stay order on the PIC’s order, the Cabinet Division is allowed to publish the information.
PM Imran Khan reaches Saudi Arabia on his first official foreign visit: he is accompanied by few cabinet members, including foreign minister @SMQureshiPTI and finance minister @Asad_Umar. #PMIK @ImranKhanPTI pic.twitter.com/1MTZ7k8dLC
— PTI (@PTIofficial) September 18, 2018
Justice Aurangzeb also called on those who are in possession of such gifts to return them. “People come and go but the Office of the Prime Minister remains at the same place. Every gift given [to the head of the state/government official] belongs to their office, and is not to be taken home,” he stated. The justice added that since gifts were received in exchange for similar offerings given to other foreign dignitaries using public taxes, the “incoming gifts should be kept as public property.”
Furthermore, he called for the swift implementation of a policy on the issue of Toshakhana gifts, saying that politicians should not be able to claim gifts given to them by paying nominal amounts, as this would constitute a “sale of gifts.”
Earlier on Friday, PM Sharif claimed that he could prove that Khan had sold items amounting to $750,000, including a wristwatch from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman. Additionally, government spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb claimed that Khan sold a necklace, ring, gold Kalashnikov, and a jeep for a combined total of $1 million, despite depositing just $100,000 for them in the Toshakhana.
Further supporting these claims, independent journalist Usman Manzoor claims that both Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, retained 112 gifts worth over $1 million despite paying a meagre $200,000 for them.
توشہ خانہ تحائف کی آمدن عمران خان کےٹیکس ریکارڈکےمطابق انکی زندگی کی سب سےبڑی کمائی تھی۔
— Ahmad Noorani (@Ahmad_Noorani) April 20, 2022
دعوی کیاکہ توشہ خانہ کےتمام تحائف ڈیکلیئرکیے۔ ٹیکس ریکارڈسےثابت ہواکہ یہ غلط بیانی تھی
فیکٹ فوکس نےعمران خان کےزندگی بھرکےریٹرن جاری کردیے
عثمان منظورکی تحقیقاتhttps://t.co/edLXawsybh
۔
In response, Khan told the media on Monday that, as the gifts were given to him, it was his choice whether to sell or keep them. “I deposited a gift sent by a president at my residence. Whatever I took from Toshakhana is on record. I purchased the gifts after paying 50% of the cost,” he clarified.
Along the same lines, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry replied that “selling one’s own assets is not a crime,” and urged the new PM to refrain from such rumour-mongering. However, he revealed that he has all the details of Khan’s gifts and is willing to provide them to the Court.
According to Pakistani laws, expensive state gifts must be deposited in the Toshakhana. According to the Toshakhana (Maintenance and Administration) Rules, public officials are allowed to purchase any gifts they receive after paying an amount that is decided by the Toshakhana Evaluation Committee. However, undervaluing the gifts to allow them to be retained by officials has been a common occurrence in Pakistan’s history. Previously, several political leaders, including former President Asif Ali Zardari and ex-PMs Nawaz Sharif and Yousuf Raza Gillani, have been accused of retaining public gifts without paying the appropriate amount.
Apart from the Toshakhana controversy, Khan has also come under fire for taking a helicopter to travel to the PM Secretariat every day, which new Minister of Finance Miftah Ismail revealed cost the national exchequer 550 million Pakistani rupees ($2.98 million) over three years. In this regard, Ismail refuted former Minister of Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry that the helicopter commute cost just $0.30 per kilometre and claimed to have evidence that proves otherwise.