Islamabad: A Pakistan high court said Monday that it would announce Tuesday its reserved verdict on former prime minister Imran Khan’s plea seeking the suspension of his three-year jail term given by a sessions court in the Toshakhana corruption case.
A divisional bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC) judges, comprising Chief Justice Amer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri, reserved the verdict after hearing both parties’ counsels.
The bench later stated that the reserved judgment would be announced at 11.00 a.m. Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, the IHC resumed hearing of appeal which it began hearing August 22. It had adjourned the case Friday after the lawyer representing the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) did not appear due to illness.
Khan’s lawyer Latif Khosa completed his argument Thursday, asserting that the verdict was given in haste and full of shortcomings. He urged the court to set aside the sentence but the defence team demanded more time to complete its arguments.
Many believe that a favourable ruling for 70-year-old Khan may come after the Supreme Court highlighted faults in the judgment convicting Khan.
Meanwhile, the Balochistan High Court (BHC) Monday dismissed a first information report (FIR) filed against Khan for making comments against state institutions and their officers during a speech.
A two-member bench comprising BHC Chief Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Gul Hasan Tareen announced the verdict on the petition filed by the Insaf Lawyers Forum’s (ILF) Iqbal Shah, Geo News reported.
The high court also dismissed the arrest warrants against Khan issued by the judicial magistrate.
“Alhamdulillah, the court has dismissed the FIR registered against Imran Khan in Bijli Road police station in Quetta, once again Imran Khan has been vindicated in a false case, congratulations to all Pakistan on the victory of justice,” Khan’s counsel Naeem Haider Panjutha wrote on X, formerly Twitter, celebrating the dismissal of the case.
During Monday’s hearing in IHC, the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) counsel Amjad Pervaiz urged the IHC to issue a notice to the state to make it a respondent in the case as, he said, the law made it necessary.
When Pervaiz concluded his arguments, Khan’s lawyer Khosa said he did not have any objections to the ECP counsel’s plea to issue a notice to the state.
Subsequently, the court reserved its verdict on the case.
Separately, a three-member apex court panel led by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and comprising Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail was also hearing petitions against the Toshakhana case.
The apex court bench has fixed the hearing of the Toshakhana case Tuesday, according to Khan’s party.
The party said that the top court would hear the case after the announcement of the verdict by the Islamabad High Court.
Earlier, the Supreme Court on Wednesday hearing various petitions against the Toshakhana case observed that there were “shortcomings” in the judgment of the sessions court.
The panel observed that the verdict was given in haste and without giving the right of defence to the accused. “Prima facie, there are shortcomings in the trial court verdict,” the chief justice said.
The apex court had also stated it would wait for the IHC hearing before giving its judgment. It resumed the hearing Thursday but adjourned it without fixing any date after it was told that the IHC was holding a hearing.
A trial court had convicted and sentenced the 70-year-old Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman to three years in prison August 5 in the case.
Khan was sentenced on charges of unlawfully selling state gifts acquired by him and his family during his 2018-2022 tenure. He has also been barred from politics for five years, preventing him from contesting an upcoming election.
The Toshakhana case was filed by the ruling party lawmakers in 2022 in the ECP, alleging that Khan concealed the proceeds from the sale of state gifts. The ECP first disqualified him and then filed a case of criminal proceedings in a sessions court.
After a hearing spanning over months, Judge Humayun Dilawar of the Islamabad-based sessions court August 5 awarded a three-year sentence to Khan for hiding the proceeds he got from the sale of state gifts.
Khan within days challenged the conviction in the Islamabad High Court (IHC), seeking to suspend his sentence and overturn the judgment.
The court held the initial hearing August 22 but adjourned the cases till August 24 after ECP lawyer Pervez failed to turn up. Khan’s counsel Advocate Khosa had expressed his dissatisfaction with the court, saying he would not appear at the next hearing.
Subsequently, IHC Chief Justice Farooq, who was presiding over the hearing and in whom the PTI chief has expressed a lack of confidence, had asserted he would decide on the matter on Monday “even if no one appears”.
Khan is currently in Attock Jail where he was lodged after arrest following his conviction. He has also been disqualified for five years.
The case alleges that Khan had “deliberately concealed” details of the gifts he retained from the Toshaskhana – a repository where presents handed to government officials from foreign officials are kept – during his time as the prime minister from 2018 to 2022 and proceeds from their reported sales.
As per Toshakhana rules, gifts/presents and other such materials received by persons to whom these rules apply shall be reported to the Cabinet Division.
According to reports, Khan received 58 gifts worth more than Rs 140 million from world leaders during his three-and-a-half-year stint and retained all of them either by paying a negligible amount or even without any payment.
PTI
