Pakistan: NAB Forms Prosecution Team for Fresh Toshakhana Reference Against Imran Khan

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) established its prosecution team to pursue a recent Toshakhana reference against Imran Khan, the founder of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), and his wife, Bushra Bibi.

An insider at NAB revealed that the anti-graft watchdog’s prosecution team is led by NAB’s Deputy Prosecution General (Accountability), Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi.

Other team members include special prosecutors Irfan Ahmed Bola, Sohail Arif, and Owais Arshad.

The NAB team is scheduled to participate in a hearing of the reference at Adiala Jail on Saturday, where Imran Khan is currently detained.

On December 19, NAB lodged a new reference against PTI founder Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, in an accountability court.

The reference pertains to their possession of a jewelry set received from the Saudi Crown Prince, valued lower than its assessed value.

NAB alleges that during Imran Khan’s tenure as prime minister, he and his wife received a total of 108 gifts from various heads of states and foreign dignitaries.

Out of these, they purportedly retained 58 gifts, undervalued at over Rs142 million.

The reference focuses specifically on the Graff jewelry set received from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, retained by the accused against a significantly undervalued assessment.

The NAB chairman delegated authority to initiate an inquiry to the director general of NAB, Rawalpindi, on August 1, 2022.

The DG authorized the inquiry on August 5, 2022, and it was later upgraded to an investigation on July 14, 2023.

During the inquiry, it was revealed that, during his term as PM, Imran Khan and his wife received 108 gifts.

The investigation uncovered that Bushra Imran, as the wife of the accused, received a Graff jewelry set from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia during an official visit.

Although the gift was reported to the Toshakhana of the cabinet division, it was not deposited in accordance with the Procedure for the Acceptance and Disposal of Gifts 2018 for transparent assessment.

Based on collected evidence, the reference alleges that Bushra Bibi, in collaboration with Imran Khan, violated the procedure by not depositing the gift at Toshakhana before retaining it.

The accused allegedly pressured the private appraiser Sohaib Abbasi, through Syed Inam Ullah Shah, to undervalue the Graff jewelry set and retained it illegally for a meager amount of approximately Rs9.031 million, based on an undervalued price assessment of Rs18,092,000.

The reference concludes that the assessments conducted by Sohaib Abbasi and the government appraiser were highly undervalued.

To ensure a genuine assessment, an expert from the Diamond and Jewelry industry, Imran Bashir of Rainbow Impex FZE, Dubai, was engaged to assist NAB in the investigation of the case.