Shahid Khaqan Abbasi confesses to acquiring watches from Toshakhana

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) central leader and former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Friday confessed to acquiring watches from Toshakhana, ARY News reported.

During an interview, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi admitted, “I do not wear wristwatches but my son had bought some watches from Toshakhana which I had paid for later.”

He said that gifts are given to the military secretary, not to the prime minister, which was later accumulated in the Toshakhana.

Shahid Khaqan said that the military secretary writes to you that such a thing has been gifted to you, quoting the price of the gift if the PM wants to buy it for personal use.

The former premier said that his son took some watches from Toshakhana after paying the amount they asked for it. He added that he left some gifts in Toshakhana.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) issued the written judgment of the Toshakhana reference against former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The ECP declared Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan disqualified in its verdict in the Toshakhana reference on Friday.

“As per the statement of Imran Khan he had purchased the gifts from Toshakhana paying 21.564 million rupees while the Cabinet Division said that the gifts had a value of 107.943 million,” according to ECP written judgment.

“Imran Khan’s bank account details were received from the State Bank of Pakistan. He had 51.6 million rupees in his account at the end of 2018-19,” decision read.

“The amount in his bank account was around half of the value of the state gifts.” “Imran Khan was bound to declare the cash and bank details in his returns but he didn’t declare it,” ECP decision read. “His returns do not meet to the bank record. He didn’t explain that the mistake in his returns was unintentional. Imran Khan accepted that he didn’t declare the gifts, or the money earned from their sale in Year 2019-20,” according to the verdict.

“All details have been declared in his tax returns”, he told. “The election commission and the FBR are two separate institutions, ” ECP said.