Former federal minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry has accepted that former prime minister Imran Khan had sold the Toshakhana gift – a watch – while refuting PM Shehbaz’s allegations that Imran Khan sold a bunch of items for Rs140 million in Dubai.
Chaudhry, while speaking to the media, said that Khan bought the watch – that was gifted to him – from the government and hence it was Khan’s property.
“What is the offence if the [then] prime minister sold the watch he bought from the government?” Fawad asked.
He also said that there should be no objection to the price on which the watch had been sold. He added that if it was owned by a person who was selling it, it didn’t matter if the watch was worth Rs50 million or 100 million.
He also said that he was not able to understand the exact allegation of PM Shehbaz and advised him to focus on national issues and avoid gossip.
Earlier, PM Shehbaz claimed that Imran Khan sold Toshakhana gifts given to him by a foreign country worth Rs140mn in Dubai. While speaking to the media, PM Shehbaz said that his predecessor had sold items from Toshakhana in Dubai including diamond jewellery sets, bracelets and wristwatches.
Meanwhile, PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz Sharif also demanded a full inquiry and said in her tweet that the main question was how much he bought the gifts from the government for and then at what rate he sold them.
She also questioned the income of the former prime minister and the source of money for buying such expensive things from the government, as he only had one source of income and that was the salary he was taking as prime minister.
According to the law, whenever a head of state receives a gift from another state or country, they have to give it to the Toshakhana. If they wish to keep the gift, they have to pay an amount equal to its value which is decided through an auction.
These gifts either remain deposited in the Toshakhana or can be auctioned and the money acquired through it is to be deposited into the national treasury.
