ECP lawyer completes final arguments in Toshakhana gifts case
Pakistan
PTI says court should wait for final decision on appeals in other courts
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - A district and sessions court in Islamabad on Thursday resumed hearing of a plea filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) against the PTI chief for concealing details of Toshakana gifts.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar conducted hearing on the complaint against the PTI chairman. Niazullah Niazi and Amjad Pervez appeared in court on behalf of the PTI chief and the ECP, respectively.
Meanwhile, the counsel for the ECP completed his arguments in the case.
Advancing arguments, PTI chairman’s lawyer Niazi said former prime minister’s appeals were lying pending with the Islamabad High Court (IHC) and the Supreme Court (SC). He prayed to the court to wait for the final decision in the cases.
Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar said he had asked PTI counsel Khawaja Haris to complete his arguments till Friday (today). Now it was up to him (Haris) to complete arguments or not. Niazi said he would advance arguments but they had cases pending in other courts on Toshakhana gifts.
The ADSJ asked the ECP lawyer to advance final arguments in the case.
Amjad Pervez, the lawyer of the Election Commission, said the gifts from the Toshakhana and the challan submitted to the national treasury were also part of the record. The issue of identification of the gifts was before court. The PTI chairman admitted in his reply what gifts he had received, he said.
He said 58 gifts were given to the PTI chairman (as the prime minister) and his wife. The PTI chairman said he purchased gifts worth Rs21.66 million which also included watches and valuable mobiles.
Pervez said the PTI chairman had accepted the list of gifts and he paid for 20 per cent of the gifts in 2018-19. He stated nothing was written in the column of jewellery in Form B and no word about valuable gifts was written in the form.
The ECP lawyer said the word Toshakhana was mentioned in the tax return but the gifts of Toshakhana were not written in Form B. He said the PTI chairman did not have a single vehicle of his own according to Form B.
Judge Humayun Dilawar, addressing the PTI lawyer, said Friday was the last day for final arguments. “You should know that today all arguments will be locked. If the application is accepted, then the matter is over, otherwise you should advance final arguments,” the ADSJ said.
After that, the judge adjourned the Toshakhana case hearing.
