On Saturday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ruled that Imran Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and his wife, Bushra Bibi, were not legally required to appear before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in connection with a reference involving Toshakhana presents.
The ruling was made by a two-judge panel of IHC Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Babar Sattar, who agreed that the notices were without merit.
Respondents in the lawsuit include the NAB chairman and the additional director of NAB Rawalpindi, where the former premier and his wife initially challenged the notifications.
Bushra Bibi had asked the court to rule that the notices were invalid. She also asked the court to prevent the NAB from using the notices as the basis for any disciplinary action. The petitioner urged the court to prevent the NAB from formally investigating the matter inquiry.
After she failed to show up to the anti-graft body’s inquiry procedures in the reference, the watchdog filed the case with the IHC.
In February of this year, a notice was sent to Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi, and others involved in the Toskhana case, stating, “The competent authority has taken cognisance of an offence allegedly committed by the accused persons under the provisions of NAO, 1999.” According to the investigation findings, you kept several expensive gifts given to you by foreign dignitaries during your time in office. These included five Rolex wristwatches, an iPhone presented by the Chief of Staff of the Qatar Armed Forces on November 14, 2018 (model number E67574V3), a pair of cufflinks, a ring, a piece of unfinished cloth for a suit from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia on September 18, 2020, and a gift set from Graf.
The notice instructs the recipient to appear before the “Combined Investigation Team (CIT), NAB (Rawalpindi/Islamabad), Civic Centre, G-6, Islamabad” for an investigation.