Toshakhana case: Pakistan Supreme Court rejects Imran Khan’s plea seeking suspension of arrest warrants

In a major setback for former Prime Minister Imran Khan, the Pakistan Supreme Court has turned down his request to halt the criminal proceedings against him in the Toshakhana corruption case.

The case revolves around allegations that Khan, the leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, deliberately concealed information about gifts he received and retained from the Toshakhana during his tenure as the Prime Minister.

These gifts, received from foreign officials during official visits, were allegedly sold during his premiership, with the total value exceeding Rs 140 million (USD 635,000).

Following the rejection of relief in the case by the Islamabad High Court (IHC), Khan, aged 70, approached the apex court seeking intervention. However, the Supreme Court’s decision has further complicated his legal situation in the corruption case.

The Election Commission of Pakistan on October 21 last year, disqualified the former prime minister in the Toshakhana case for making “false statements and incorrect declaration”.

In May, a trial court rejected Khan’s petition challenging the maintainability of the case and indicted the PTI chief, who denied all the allegations of misdeclaration of gifts.

Subsequently, Khan challenged the trial court’s decision before the IHC, which sent the case back to the trial court for re-examination. On July 8, the trial court concluded that the ECP’s petition is maintainable and proceeded further against the former premier who then approached the apex court for relief.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Justice Yahya Afridi of the two-member bench remarked that the apex court will not interfere in the trial court’s matters in the Toshakhana corruption case.

However, it urged the IHC to decide three of Khan’s pending petitions challenging the court’s decision to return the matter to the trial court after his lawyer Khawaja Haris informed the bench that there are multiple petitions related to the jurisdiction of the trial court and transfer of the Toshakhana case pending in the high court, the Express Tribune newspaper reported.

Khan is facing more than 140 cases across the country and faces charges like terrorism, violence, blasphemy, corruption and murder since he was ousted from power in April last year after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, which he alleged was part of a US-led conspiracy targeting him because of his independent foreign policy decisions on Russia, China and Afghanistan.

With inputs from PTI.