The former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has been accused of corruption and illegally selling for $2m (£1.7m) a unique antique watch, gold pen, ring, and cufflinks given to him by the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.
On Tuesday, a Dubai-based businessman, Farooq Zahoor, claimed on Pakistan’s Geo News that he purchased the gifts in cash from a close friend of the former premier in 2019 in the United Arab Emirates.
Khan denies the allegations and says they are part of a campaign to malign him. He has vowed to sue the journalist, the media network and Zahoor in courts in London and the UAE for their “character assassination”, saying he had no hope in Pakistan’s justice system.
The sale of state gifts by Khan, known as the Toshakhana issue, became a national political scandal after the election commission of Pakistan (ECP) disqualified and barred him from elections for five years and accused him of “false statements and incorrect declarations” about gifts he received from foreign leaders while in power.
During the Mughal era, Toshakhana referred to the “treasure houses” kept by the subcontinent’s princely rulers to store and display gifts lavished on them. The name is now given to a government department where the gifts given to state officials are kept.
Khan has challenged the disqualification verdict in the Islamabad high court and the case is in the court.
Since Khan was ousted from power in April after a no-confidence vote, controversy has continued over his alleged corrupt practices, false statements, and failure to declare luxurious and expensive gifts he received from wealthy Arab nations, including from the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and leader of Dubai while in office. Asked for a timeframe for Khan’s threatened legal action, members of his party said either that they did not know or that a date had yet to be decided.
The 70-year-old former international cricket star has since attempted to disrupt Pakistan’s political processes, ordering his members of the national assembly to resign en masse. He has also been rallying against the government and demanding snap elections. Last month, he started a “long march” from Lahore with thousands of people to Islamabad to demand snap elections.
However, the coalition government has made it clear that the election will take place on time in 2023.
Khan was wounded in an assassination attempt on 3 November and accused the current prime minister, interior minister and a senior intelligence officer for the attempt on his life, but provided no evidence for the claim. The current prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, condemned the incident but, along with the government including the armed forces, refuted Khan’s claims.
Khan rode to power in 2018 on a populist platform to fight corruption and overturn decades of rule by two feuding political dynasties, the Bhuttos and the Sharifs, calling them “thieves and looters”.But when in power, Khan was unable to prove any corruption charges against them.
