The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday granted protective bail to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan till June 21 in a case related to forgery and cheating in the sale of Toshakhana gifts.
Justice Amjad Rafique issued the order on a petition filed by the former prime minister seeking protective bail.
Toshakhana is a department responsible for storing gifts and other valuables given to a Government official and is managed by the Cabinet Division.
Imran Khan is facing many legal problems for keeping gifts, this issue has also led to his disqualification by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in the past.
The FIR filed against Imran Khan on June 6 also names his wife Bushra Bibi, former adviser on accountability Shahzad Akbar and PTI leader Zulfi Bukhari.
The FIR states that the accused “cheated, forged and submitted forged receipts of our business letterhead showing purchase of sale of gifts like watches, cuff links which were obtained from Toshakhana with fake signatures”.
“As per the records, there was never any transaction with such named accused regarding the sale and above mentioned items, nor did the accused sell any such items to us,” the FIR said.
The petitioner demanded that the named persons be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted.
The complaint, lodged at Kohsar police station in Islamabad, includes sections 420 (fraudulent and dishonest delivery of property), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (genuine use of forged document) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Earlier today, the PTI chairman filed a petition in the Lahore High Court stating that he was implicated in the case with mala fide and mala-fide intention.
He said the sole purpose of naming him in the FIR was to harass, blackmail and politically target him, and requested that he be granted protective bail.
During the hearing, Imran’s lawyer Salman Safdar argued that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) started proceedings against the former prime minister in the Toshakhana case.
“Kindly grant us protective bail so that we can approach the relevant court in Islamabad,” he added, adding that Imran Khan was already scheduled to appear in 11 cases in the capital. On which the court accepted his application and granted him protective bail till June 21.
