Imran Khan and wife sentenced to 14 years in jail in Toshakhana corruption case

Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi were sentenced to 14 years in prison on Wednesday in a corruption case for retaining expensive state gifts when he was in power dealing another blow to the jailed former premier a day after he was handed a 10year jail term for leaking sensitive state secretsThe verdict which comes eight days before the February 8 general elections has increased the legal woes of the 71yearold cricketerturnedpolitician who is already serving a threeyear jail term after being convicted of corruptionKhans party the Pakistan TehreekeInsaaf PTI faced numerous troubles before the election starting with the denial of its election symbol the cricket bat to the rejection of nomination papers of Khan former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and several other party leadersAccountability Court Judge Mohammad Bashir conducted the hearing at Rawalpindis Adiala Jail where the former premier is incarcerated in the Toshakhana corruption caseKhan and his wife were also barred from holding any public office for 10 years and slapped with a fine of Rs 787 million each Bushra Bibi did not appear before the court on WednesdayBushra Bibi 49 reached the Adiala jail after her conviction in the case and offered her arrestThe Judge in the case had also convicted another former premier Nawaz Sharif in July 2018 ahead of electionsReacting to the verdict PTIs current chief Gohar Khan said the judgment only served to lower the respect of the judiciaryThe accused were not given time and the process was hurried to conclude the trial he said adding that the defence was not given the right of crossexaminationLast month the National Accountability Bureau NAB filed a fresh case against the two in an accountability court for retaining a jewellery set received from the Saudi crown prince against undervalued assessmentKhan told the court that his wife had nothing to do with the case and was being humiliated by being forcibly dragged into itAt the outset of the hearing on Wednesday Judge Bashir asked Khan if he recorded his statement To this the former premier said that he would submit his statement once his lawyers cameI have been deceived as I was only called to mark my attendance for the hearing said the PTI founderThe sentence comes just a day after a special court established under the Official Secrets Act sentenced Khan and Qureshi to 10 years in prison for the breach of state secretsThe latest conviction and sentencing are Khans third since 2022 when he was ousted from powerPreviously Khan was convicted in the Toshakhana case on August 5 and sentenced to three years imprisonment The Islamabad High Court IHC later suspended his sentence however a division bench had later rejected Khans petition seeking the suspension of the convictionAccording to reports Khan and his wife received 108 gifts from various heads of state out of which they kept 58 gifts They were also undervalued by them while paying a mandatory price to the stateUnder the rules governing Toshakhana a Persian word meaning treasure house government officials can keep gifts by paying a price for them but first the gift should be deposited The two either failed to deposit the gift or got it for a low price by allegedly using their authorityThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever