Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi moves IHC against the call-up notice issued by NAB in a reference regarding Toshakhana gifts
The plea has been fixed for hearing on Monday
ISLAMABAD ( Web News )
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi on Saturday moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the call-up notice issued by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in a reference regarding Toshakhana gifts.
The former first lady has challenged the notices served on her on March 16 and 17 through her lawyer, Khawaja Harris Ahmad. She has made the NAB Chairman, and additional director of NAB Rawalpindi respondents in the case.
Bushra Bibi had pleaded the court to declare the notices null and void. She also requested the high court to bar the NAB from taking any disciplinary action against her on the basis of the notices. The petitioner asked the court to stop NAB from converting the case inquiry into an investigation.
She requested that the NAB inquiry be stopped from being converted into an investigation until a decision is taken on the application in which NAB has also been made a party. “Until a decision is taken on the application, NAB should be ordered to stop taking disciplinary action against me,” requested Bushra Bibi. The plea has been fixed for hearing on Monday.
The development comes after she failed to appear before the anti-graft watchdog to join the inquiry proceedings in the reference.
Last week, the NAB had summoned Bushra Bibi in the Toshakhana case, arriving at Imran Khan’s Zaman Park residence to deliver the notice.
A notice issued to Imran Khan, Bushra Bibi and others in the Toskhana case in February this year states: “The competent authority has taken cognisance of an offence allegedly committed by the accused persons under the provisions of NAO, 1999. In this regard, the inquiry proceedings have revealed that during your tenure in office you retained some state gifts presented to you by various foreign dignitaries including the following luxury items — five Rolex wristwatches; one iPhone presented by Chief of Staff, Qatar Armed Forces, dated 14.11.2018; (No. E67574V3), a pair of cufflinks, one ring; unstitched cloth of pant coat from Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia dated 18.09.2020; Graff gift set containing one Graff wristwatch Master Graff Special Edition Mecca timepiece, one 18K gold and diamond Graff pen and a ring and pair of cufflinks with micro-painting of Mecca.”
“You are therefore requested to join the inquiry proceedings before the Combined Investigation Team (CIT), NAB (Rawalpindi/Islamabad), Civic Centre, G-6, Islamabad,” reads the notice
Earlier, the accountability watchdog had summoned the PTI chief and his wife to their Rawalpindi office on March 9 for an investigation in the Toshakhana case.
Imran Khan’s summons notice was sent to his residences at Bani Gala and Chak Shehzad in Islamabad.
In the notice, NAB accused Imran of selling gifts received during his tenure, including four Rolex watches, an iPhone given to him by the Qatar Armed Forces in 2018, as well as valuable watches and other gifts, which was against the law.
On March 18, Additional District and Sessions Judge Zafar Iqbal cancelled the arrest warrants issued against the former premier in the Toshakhana case, allowing him to leave after marking his attendance without being indicted because of clashes between the police and PTI workers outside the Islamabad Judicial Complex.
Imran was scheduled to appear before the sessions court to attend proceedings on a complaint filed by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for allegedly concealing details of the gifts he had acquired from the Toshakhana in his asset declarations.