The Pakistani Federal Investigative Agency has filed an FIR against ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan for selling a necklace through his special assistant Zulfikar Bukhari for Rs 180 million but depositing only a few thousand rupees with the national exchequer.
According to the agency, Imran Khan was gifted the expensive necklace by the Saudi Royals during his visit to the Kingdom last year and according to the law this gift was to be deposited in the official “Tosha Khana”.
‘Instead Imran Khan gave it to his assistant Zulfikar Bukhari to sell. Bukhari sold the necklace to a jeweller in Lahore for Rs180 million,” Express Tribune quoted the FIR.
Bukhari has denied the allegations and tweeted on Tuesday that the report about him selling a necklace was a blatant lie.
Blatantl lies! No necklace given or ever sold by me.
Low blow attempt to discredit PM by a B grade media house. Surely you can do better than that 24 News.— Sayed Z Bukhari (@sayedzbukhari) April 12, 2022
According to Pakistani law, state officials are required to submit the gifts they receive from dignitaries during official visits and submit them in Tosh Khana (the state gift repository). If they want to keep gifts then they will have to deposit half the estimated cost of the gift. If they fail to submit the gift or at least half the amount the gift is worth, it is an illegal act.
This is not the first time that former prime minister Imran Khan has come under fire for selling gifts that he got from foreign heads of the government.
Last year Khan allegedly sold an expensive watch gifted by the prince of a Gulf country in Dubai for $1 million. The prince reportedly knew that the watch gifted to Khan was sold.
In another incident, there were media reports that Khan sold off a necklace gifted by the first lady of Turkey during his visit to the country in 2019.
The Imran Khan government refused to make public details of gifts given to Khan by foreign heads of states, asserting that the disclosure can damage the country’s national interest and its relations with other states.
When the Pakistan Information Commission sought details from his government, the PTI government challenged the matter in Islamabad High Court, arguing that details of the gifts received by the prime minister have been designated as “classified” the government was "maintaining secrecy" over details of gifts received by Prime Minister Khan from other heads of states as releasing their lists and "comparing them with those of other countries is considered inappropriate, especially by Islamic countries with whom Pakistan enjoys brotherly relations".
At that time, PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz tweeted in Urdu that "Imran Khan has sold the gifts he received from other countries. Caliph Hazrat Omar (companion of Prophet Muhammad) was accountable for his shirt and robe and you (Imran Khan), on the other hand, looted foreign gifts from Toshakhana and you are talking of setting up a state of Madina? How can a person (Khan) be this insensitive, deaf, dumb and blind?"
