Toshakhana saga: PTI decides to sue Umar Zahoor over claim of gifts' trade

In the latest development in the Toshakhana saga, PTI has decided to initiate legal proceedings against Dubai-based businessman who claimed that the gifts received by ex-prime minister Imran Khan were traded to him.

Zahoor, the Norwegian-Pakistani millionaire, revealed that he bought Toshakana gifts given to Khan during his tenure as the premier by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.

He claimed that he had evidence to prove he bought a rare watch — worth at least Rs2 billion — and three other Toshakhana gifts from Farhat Shahzadi, also known as Farah Gogi, for 7.5 million Dirhams in cash.

In an affidavit, the businessman has listed four gifts he purchased from Farah — a close friend of Khan's wife Bushra Bibi, who was also embroiled in corruption cases recently.

PTI Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry said in a press conference flanked by party leader Zulfi Bukhari, that Zahoor's claims were baseless, over which the party has decided to take legal action.

"In 2018, the Saudi crown prince gifted a watch to Imran Khan and the controversy over the watch's price has been going on for a while now," the former federal minister said.

Chaudhry said the watch was priced at Rs100 million, and in line with the law regulating Toshakhana, Khan sold it for more than Rs50 million in the market and filed capital gain tax on it.

Divulging into the details of Toshakahan's procedures, the PTI leader said when the gifts given to state officials arrive in Pakistan, they are deposited into Toshakhana.

He said the chief of protocol receives the gifts and brings them to Pakistan, and he is the official who deposits them into Toshakhana. Then, the Cabinet Division determines its value, Chaudhry said.

"The law states that 20% of the gift's value should be depsited in the national exchequer. We amended the law and made it 50%," he said.

Defending the former prime minister, Chaudhry said the gift items were not sold to the Dubai-based businessman and Bushra Bibi's friend had no role in their sale.

"The watch was not sold to anyone named Umar Zahoor. The watch was not handed over to Farah for sale and she has no role in it," he said, as he levelled allegations against the millionaire.

Chaudhry said Zahoor has a total of three brothers who are serving jail time in Norway. He added that the businessman himself was facing criminal cases.

The PTI leader further said that Zahoor took his children to Dubai on illegal documentation.

For his part, Bukhari said that former president Asif Ali Zardari and ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif also took gifts from Toshakahan but no uproar was witnessed when they did it.

"Graff has several shops in Dubai, the price of the watch can be obtained from any of those shops. The dealer, who brought the watch from us, sold it at a rate of more than Rs60 million."

The dealer who sold the watch is not in the country nowadays, he said, noting that the PTI leadership had the name and number of the person.