NAB summons PTI chief again in Toshakhana case

• Former premier fails to appear before NAB over previous summons.
• PTI chief requested to bring records related to Toshakhana case.
• Bushra Bibi summoned in £190 million scam case.

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) served a summon to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan once again after he failed to appear at its Rawalpindi office on Friday, The News reported.

The former prime minister, who had been voted out by the parliament last year in April, had been initially summoned for the investigations in the Toshakhana case on Friday. Still, his lawyer showed up instead of him and submitted a request for a fresh date.

The PTI chief had requested to be summoned on June 19, but NAB gave June 21 as the new date for his appearance in the graft case related to the state gift depository.

The case involves allegations of misuse of authority, criminal breach of trust, and improper handling of state assets by holders of public office, and others.

In the fresh summons, the ex-PM has been asked to bring relevant records, including details and records of received state gifts, and records of sold state gifts and physically produce the state gifts retained, so their value can be evaluated by experts as per the list previously provided in the call-up notice.

“Inquiry proceedings have revealed that during your tenure as prime minister, you were presented with 108 gifted state assets, out of which you retained 58 gifts," the document stated.

It mentioned that the former premier had failed to deposit the gifted state assets with the Toshakhana for a fair price assessment, contrary to the rules.

It was alleged that he had subsequently abused his position by retaining the gifted assets worth millions of rupees.

According to the call-up notice, the PTI chief as the prime minister, had influenced the process of price evaluation conducted by the government and private appraisers.

“Despite being called upon to appear before the NAB team on June 16, 2023, you did not appear on the designated date. Instead, you communicated through a reply, requesting the date of appearance to be shifted from June 16, 2023, to June 19, 2023,” the notice read.

“You are once again called to appear as an accused before the NAB’s Rawalpindi team on June 21, 2023, at 11 am.”

The law binds NAB, an autonomous anti-corruption body, to inform — whoever it is summoning — whether they are being summoned as an accused or a witness to record the statement.

It may be noted that PTI chief has been continuously skipping the appearances before NAB, especially in the Toshakhana case as he did not show up on the last three summons as well.

The anti-graft watchdog had taken notice of the alleged non-disclosure of the actual value of gifts received by the former prime minister, his wife, and other cabinet members last year in November.

Sources privy to the matter said that there was a discrepancy between the actual value of the gifts received by the former prime minister and the sale.

The cricketer-turned-politician had purchased the gifts at throwaway prices being the prime minister and then sold them for millions of rupees, the allegations which he has blatantly denied.

Bushra Bibi summoned in £190 million scam case

Meanwhile, the NAB has summoned Bushra Bibi as a witness for June 22 in the £190 million National Crime Agency (NCA) UK settlement case.

Bushra Bibi is being summoned as a trustee of the Al-Qadir University Trust.

Furthermore, the NAB has also summoned Azam Khan, the former secretary to the prime minister, for June 19 about the illegal transfer of £190 million for personal gain.

The case involves allegations against the PTI chairman and others for misuse of authority as public office holders in aiding and abetting the illegal transfer of £190 million.

Initially, Bushra Bibi was summoned on June 13, but she did not appear.