Pakistan: Probe against Imran Khan for Pocketing Public Gift
NEW DELHI, April 13: Pakistan’s top investigative agency has opened an inquiry against the deposed prime minister Imran Khan into an allegation that he had pocketed an expensive gift received as the prime minister instead of depositing it in the public gift repository.
According to the media reports in Pakistan on Wednesday, an expensive necklace received by Khan as a gift during his tenure as the prime minister was sold to a jeweller in Lahore for ₹ 18 crore instead of depositing it to the state gift repository. “The necklace Khan received as a gift was not sent to the tosha-khana (state gift repository), but given to former special assistant Zulfikar Bukhari, who sold it to a jeweller in Lahore for ₹ 18 crores,” the media report said. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has initiated a probe against Khan on the allegation. The public gifts can be kept in the personal closet by paying half price of it but Khan, who lost a no-trust vote in Parliament last week, deposited a few hundred thousand rupees in the national exchequer which was illegal, the report said.
According to the law, state officials are required to submit the gifts they receive from dignitaries in the tosha-khana. If they fail to submit the gift or at least half the amount the gift is worth, it is an illegal act.
(Manas Dasgupta)
