ISLAMABAD: A local court in in the federal capital initiated proceedings under criminal laws against Chairman PTI Imran Khan for allegedly misleading officials about the gifts he received from foreign dignitaries during his tenure as the prime minister.
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The move came after Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) last week had sent the reference to local district and sessions court of ADSJ Zafar Iqbal, asking it to proceed against Khan under the criminal law for allegedly misleading officials about the Toshakhana gifts. The ECP requested the PTI chief be convicted for the offences mentioned under sections 167 and 173 of the Elections Act 2017.
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Acting on the ECP directives, the court had summoned Imran Khan yesterday, asking him to appear on Tuesday (today) but he didn’t show up.
During the proceedings today, district election commissioner Waqas Ahmed Malik took oath in the court, stating that he had been authorized (by ECP) to proceed. He stated that members of National Assembly and Senate file their returns every year, and the same was done by Imran Khan mentioning his assets from 2018 to 2021.
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After recording the statement of Waqas Ahmed Malik, the hearing was adjourned until December 3.
The ECP reference, it may be mentioned here, stated that Imran Khan had “deliberately concealed his assets relating to Toshakhna gifts retained by him particularly in year 2018 and 2019… in the statements of assets and liabilities filed for the year 2017-201 8 and 2018-19”.
