Islamabad High Court declares Toshakhana case against Pak’s ex-PM Imran Khan 'inadmissible'

In a major relief for Imran Khan, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday declared “void” the sessions court's verdict in the Toshakhana case against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman.

Chief Justice Amir Farooq said that the Toshakhana case against Khan was inadmissible and returned the matter to the trial court, ordering that the PTI's counsel arguments be heard again and reconsidered.

The verdict came a day after the PTI chief urged the court that Justice Farooq be recused from the bench.

“The application in question shall be deemed to be pending and decided afresh by the learned trial court within seven days from the receipt of this judgment, keeping in view the law in question and observations made above,” the court order reads, according to Dawn.com.

On May 10, the 70-year-old embattled leader was indicted by Additional Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar, who rejected objections about the admissibility of the case.

The PTI chief then sought IHC’s attention which had stayed criminal proceedings on the case till June 8.

The petition filed by Khan objected to filing a complaint after a specified period. His lawyer, Khawaja Haris, maintained that a complaint could only be filed within four months of submitting the return.

Following the verdict, Khan’s lawyer, Gohar Khan told reporters outside the court that the case was dismissed due to a lack of grounds to maintain it.

“The reference filed by the ECP against the PTI chief in October 2022 has been dismissed due to lack of grounds for maintaining it.”

Toshakhana case

The case, filed by the ruling party lawmakers, is based on a reference filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), alleging that Khan “deliberately concealed” details of the gifts he retained from the Toshaskhana — a repository where presents handed to government officials from foreign officials are kept — during his time as the prime minister and proceeds from their reported sales.

Imran had to go through a number of legal issues for training the gifts, ultimately leading to his disqualification as a lawmaker by the poll body.

On October 21, 2022, the ECPconcludedthat the former premier had indeed made “false statements and incorrect declarations” regarding the gifts.

Khan was accused of misusing his 2018 to 2022 premiership to buy and sell gifts in state possession that were received during visits abroad and worth more than Rs140 million ($635,000).

(With inputs from agencies)

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