The business of gifting

The Toshakhana is a repository of gifts from foreign counterparts of government officeholders, since these gifts are received in an official rather than personal capacity. Turns out former prime minister Imran Khan didn’t quite get that memo. Per news reports by independent journalists and also verified by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the former prime minister is alleged to have sold Toshakhana valuables worth at least Rs140 million in Dubai, after receiving them during his visits abroad. These items, according to conventional practice, belong to the state of Pakistan. While a chief executive is permitted to buy the gifts at a lower cost than they are worth, it is not usual for leaders to do – and certainly it is not usual for them to sell them at higher rates in another country. PM Shehbaz Sharif has said a watch obtained from Saudi Arabia was sold in Dubai. There have also been other details regarding the sale of items including cufflinks, a necklace, a ring and other precious items, which were bought for about Rs30 million by Imran Khan but sold for Rs180 million in other countries.

The Toshakhana case was brought before the Islamabad High Court by a citizen seeking information on the matter some three years back. Expectedly, the PTI government chose to cover up the matter and consistently refused to divulge any details – at one stage even taking refuge in the Official Secrets Act. This does seem a trifle farfetched, given the details of the Official Secrets Act, which is certainly not meant for such situations. Lists are now emerging of what gifts were presented to the former prime minister and what was sold at what price. Former PTI minister Fawad Chaudhry has acknowledged that Imran Khan did, as prime minister, buy and then sell Toshakhana valuables but has said that there was nothing wrong with a person purchasing an item, which then became his own, and opting to sell it at a later price. Right now, the hunt is on for a gold Kalashnikov apparently gifted to Imran Khan.

The issue is not that the PM bought the valuables, which is not illegal, but that they were sold off, apparently on profit. Now that he is no longer prime minister – a rather autocratic one at that – the former prime minister will eventually need to answer some questions regarding the ethics of profiting off state valuables as a chief executive. The argument offered by the PTI that leaders from other countries may not like information about what they have been gifted to be made public may be valid. But this certainly does not mean that an item they have given to the chief executive of Pakistan should be sold off – at a higher price – in another country. The matter obviously requires a detailed inquiry. Perhaps the former PM could show his tax returns from 2018 onwards to show the details of the purchase and sale of the valuables. This episode also dents the pristine Mr Clean image of Imran Khan that has been painstakingly shown to the Pakistani people and the world. For a leader who has built his whole political career on emphasizing other leaders’ lack of ethics and corruption, the Toshakhana controversy is a disappointing revelation.