Islamabad: On Monday, the Islamabad High Court suspended the sentences of former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife, Bushra Bibi, in the Toshakhana Case.

IHC Chief Judge Aamer Farooq announced that the appeal hearing would take place after the Eid holiday.

In January, the Accountability Court’s judge, Muhammad Bashir, sentenced Khan to 14 years imprisonment with harsh punishment.

The judge also disqualified the former Prime Minister for 10 years and handed over a fine of Rs 1.57 billion — Rs 787 million each — to both couples.

Khan told the court his wife was not involved in the case and that she had been humiliated when dragged forcibly into it.

IHC CJ Farooq said during the hearing that the cypher case would be finished in a few more days. “We cannot also fix the Toshakhana Case for hearing tomorrow after holding a hearing on it today.”

He told me that the case of the cypher was scheduled to be heard the following day.

The court stated that the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) arguments had to start in the cipher-case and he didn’t know how long the case would take. The Toshakhana Case is therefore being delayed until after Eid.

On February 1, the couple was sentenced to seven years of prison in the case related to their illegal wedding. On January 30, Khan and PTI leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi were sentenced to ten years in prison for the cipher.

These consecutive verdicts were delivered against Khan just a few weeks before the general elections on February 8.

Toshakhana reference

NAB filed the Toshakhana complaint against the former prime minister and the ex-first lady on December 19, 2023, for keeping the Graff Jewellery gift given by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia to the couple during their visit to Riyadh. The gift was alleged to be retained without proper assessment.

The deputy military secretary reported the gift to Toshakhana, but it was not deposited in order to conduct a transparent evaluation. According to the reference, Bushra violated Clause-1 Toshakhana procedures in collusion with Khan by failing to deposit the gift prior to retention.

The reference claims that both accused, acting in connivance with each other, exerted undue pressure on Sohaib Abdullah, private appraiser (approver of the reference), through Syed Inam Ullah Shah (former PS/ Comptroller of Imran Khan/ PM’s Office), to illegally lower the assessment of Graff Jewellery sets of their choice, and illegally retain it for a meagre payment of Rs 9.031 million (approx.). Based on an undervalued price of Rs18.092,000.

The reference found that Abbasi’s assessment, as well as those of the private appraiser and the government appraiser, were grossly undervalued.