A court in Pakistan on Saturday sentenced former prime minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi to 17 years in prison each in Toshakhana 2 corruption case, news agency PTI reported.
The Toshakhana case pertains to alleged fraud in state gifts, which the former first couple received from the Saudi government in 2021. Special court judge Shahrukh Arjumand announced the judgment in the high-security Adiala Jail in Pakistan’s Rawalpindi.
According to The Dawn, the case pertains to the purchase of an expensive Bulgari jewellery set, gifted to Khan by the Saudi crown prince during an official visit in May 2021, at a throwaway price. The prosecution contended that the PTI founder retained the jewellery set, valued at approximately ₹80 million (PKR), after paying only Rs2.9m.
Khan and Bushra were awarded 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment under Section 409 (criminal breach of trust) of the Pakistan Penal Code and seven years under different Sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The court also imposed a fine of ₹10 million on each of them.
“This court, while passing sentences has considered the old age of Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi, as well as the fact that Bushra Imran Khan is a female. It is in consideration of both said factors that a lenient view has been taken in awarding lesser punishment,” the Dawn quoted the court order.
Khan’s party, Tehreek-e-Insaaf Pakistan (PTI) took to X and alleged that Imran’s family was not allowed inside the jail, where a “kangaroo court announced the verdict of the Toshakhana 2 case”.
“A closed-door jail trial is neither free nor fair; it is in fact a military trial,” the party said. It also shared a video of Imran’s sister Aleema Khan inside a car asking why she was not being allowed to proceed further.
“They can’t stop us. The jail trial is today,” she said in the video, adding that it was “illegal” that the family was being stopped.
The Dawn also quoted Information Minister Attaullah Tarar saying that Khan’s jail term sentence was “consecutive sentence” and would begin after the sentence in the £190 million corruption case ended.
Tarar welcomed the judgment and accused Khan and his wife of committing a “fraud” as they got the gifts undervalued and retained them for personal use. He said that PTI founder and his wife’s actions were a “breach of public trust”.
With inputs from agencies
