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Published 31 Jan, 2024 03:01pm

Explainer: The two Toshakhana cases

Imran Khan and Bushra Begum were sentenced to 14 years in prison in the Toshakhana case on Wednesday. They were also ordered to pay fines totalling over Rs1.5 billion.

However, questions were raised about the latest judgement, as Khan has already been sentenced to a three-year jail term in the case in August last year.

The answer to this confusion is that there are actually two Toshakhana cases.

The first case was sent to a trial court by the Election Commission of Pakistan after it found that Imran Khan had not declared his assets properly in his nomination papers prior to the election in 2018.

The trial court eventually sentenced him to a three-year sentence on August 5. Minutes later, Khan was arrested from his Zaman Park residence in Lahore. However, the sentence was suspended later.

Meanwhile on August 1, five days before Imran was convicted for corrupt practices in the first case, the National Accountability Bureau initiated proceedings in another Toshakhana case against him.

The new case accused the former prime minister and former first lady of retaining 58 out of the 108 gifts they received while in office, worth Rs140 million .

It also alleged that a jewelery set worth Rs1.5 billion was taken home by the couple for a mere Rs9 million.

This is why the fine given by the accountability court is worth the same amount as the original price of the item taken away by the couple on underdeclared value.

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