ISLAMABAD: ousted Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has received Rs 36 million after illegally selling three watches given to foreign dignitaries by a local watch dealer, according to a media report on Wednesday.
According to official investigations shared with Geo News, Khan, during his tenure as prime minister, has earned millions of rupees in value-added watches totaling more than Rs 154 million. The watches were donated by foreign leaders.
The most expensive watch – more than Rs 101 million – was retained by the then prime minister with 20 percent of its value after his government amended Toshakhana’s laws and paid 50 percent of the original gift deposit. , says the report.
Geo News reported that the watches were in addition to the Toshakhana gifts sold earlier reported to the media.
According to Pakistani law, any gift received by a foreign official must be deposited in a national treasury or in Toshakhana.
Instead of buying the precious watches from Toshakhana out of his own pocket, the politician, who has since become a politician, first sold the watches and deposited 20 percent each in the state treasury, the report said, quoting papers and receipts for sale.
Apparently, these gifts were not included in Toshakhana. A gift received by any government official should be reported promptly, so that its value can be verified. Only after submitting gifts, can the recipient pay a certain amount if he wants to keep it.
Toshakhana’s writings show that Khan received Rs 36 million for the sale of these three expensive watches donated to dignitaries from friendly Gulf countries.
Real profits from the sale of the watch – which was officially tested for Rs 101 million – were donated by a respected person from the Middle East.
The 69-year-old king of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) announced that he had sold the watch for Rs 51 million and invested Rs 20 million in the state treasury, thus earning around Rs 31 million. This indicates that the watch has sold for half its real value.
The watch went on sale on January 22, 2019 after the then PTI government amended the Toshakhana rules and kept the price of any gift at 50 percent from 20 percent of its tested value.
One Rolex Platinum watch donated by a member of the royal family on the Gulf island was sold by Khan for Rs 5.2 million.
This expensive gift, according to Toshakhana rules, was inspected by official inspectors at a cost of $ 3.8 million. He invested in the state treasury 20% of the value of up to Rs 0.75 million, earning about $ 4.5 million by selling the watch. The watch went on sale in November 2018, two months after it was released.
Another Rolex watch donated by the same Gulf nobleman was sold by the former prime minister for Rs 1.8 million. The official revised value of this watch was Rs 1.5 million.
The former prime minister paid Rs 0.29 million, earning another Rs 1.5 million in the deal, the report said.
All of these gifts were sold to a local watch dealer. The record contains sales receipts and photographs of these magnificent watches.
Responding to Toshakana’s argument earlier, Khan said they were his gifts so it was his decision whether to keep them or not.
“Mera tohfa, meri marzi (my gift, my choice),” the PTI chairman told reporters during an informal conversation.
The matter came to light when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif claimed that Khan, in his tenure, had sold Toshakhana gifts in Dubai worth R140 million.
According to reports, the prime minister received 58 gifts worth more than Rs 140 million from world leaders during his three-and-a-half-year tenure and retained them all with little or no pay.
Meanwhile, accusing the current government of corruption, Khan on Tuesday said the only way to fix the economy was to recoup some of the billions of dollars held overseas by the Zardari and Sharif families.
The former prime minister reiterated his demand for a just and transparent national election, describing it as the only way to get the country out of political turmoil.
In his video-linking speech, the PTI chairman wondered what the crisis was in the country as within two months inflation rates soared and power outages made public life miserable, as the economy slowed and unemployment increased.
Mocking the government of Shehbaz Sharif’s successor, Khan said the government should come up with a plan to increase inflation or fix the economy as they are considered “very experienced”.
“Two families have ruled the country for 30 years. Instead of reducing inflation and rehabilitating the economy, they are doing the same thing NRO-2 to eradicate the Rs 1,100 billion corruption cases they were facing,” the former prime minister said.
Khan said his government would not allow the price of electricity, diesel and petrol to rise despite pressure from the IMF.