Pakistan’s anti-corruption watchdog on Tuesday filed another case of corruption against the incarcerated former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi.
The Toshakhana case was registered by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the former first couple for not depositing the gifts they received from foreign dignitaries in the state depository.
The NAB prosecutor, Sohail Arif, along with Investigation Officer Mohsin Haroon, submitted the reference to the registrar office for further legal proceedings.
Only Khan and Bibi have been nominated as accused in the case.
The registrar office of the accountability court is set to take further action after scrutinising the case.
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The case was filed after the accountability court on Saturday rejected NAB’s request for an extended physical remand of Khan in the Toshakhana case. Khan was formally arrested last week while in jail for a probe.
Under the NAB laws, an accused can be arrested on the charges of corruption during the investigation stage even before a formal case is registered.
This Toshakhana case is different from the case filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan last year and in which Khan was convicted on August 5 and arrested. The ECP plea was that Khan failed to declare the proceeds of sale from the state gifts and misled the election body.
The crux of the new case filed by NBA is the accusation that Khan and Bushra retained gifts received during their official visits to foreign countries while Khan served as the prime minister.
Instead of following the prescribed official protocol by depositing these gifts in the Toshakhana, the couple purportedly kept them and contributed an amount less than the stipulated value into the national treasury.
Khan has been implicated in scores of cases since his government was toppled last year.