Imran Khan told court Toshakhana, prohibited funding both legal

Former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan has said that his selling of Toshakhana gifts and party’s prohibited funding are both legal, reported 24NewsHD TV channel. 

He stated this during the hearing of Rs10 billion defamation suit filed against him by PML-N leader and Defence Minister Khawaja Asif in the Islamabad District and Sessions Court on Saturday.

Imran told the court that the Election Commission of Pakistan had accused him of indulging in corruption and corrupt practices in the Toshakhana and prohibited funding cases. He insisted that ‘both Toshakhana and prohibited funding are legal’. 

The PTI chairman appeared before the court through video link. 

During hearing, Imran confessed that he had invested $3 million taken from the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust Hospital but did not remember where the money was invested.

On the cross examination of Kh Asif’s lawyer Ali Shah Gilani, Imran told the court that it was true that he had made $3 million investment in 2008 and then returned the principal amount to the SKMT Hospital in 2015. 

He said that the money was invested in some Oman project but he did not know the name of the project. 

He said that the idea of endowment board was figured out in 1990s. The endowment board used to make independent investment and it had multiplied our investment, he informed. He said that it was not necessary for him to understand the working of the endowment board’s investments. 

Imran further said that he wasn’t sure whether the idea of $3 million investment was put before the endowment board or not. 

He told the court that the two companies where the investment had been made were offshore. He said it was not in his knowledge whether they were Benami companies. 

He further told the court that 3 million dollars remained with the HBG group whose chief executive was Imtiaz Haideri. He said Haideri was part of the committee which had approved a fund of $3 million for investment. He, however, denied that Haideri had approved the investment for some personal gain. 

The PTI chief said that this investment was discussed during the board meetings. He said that the investment money did not return at the time when a legal notice was sent to Kh Asif. 

Imran said that Haideri had been the donor of the SKMT Hospital for 16 years. “But I don’t remember whether Hideri had been the donor of the PTI or not,” he said adding that several overseas Pakistanis gave donations to the party. 

The PTI chief further said that the Shaukat Khanum Hospital’s budget is Rs18 billion and its internal and external audits are duly conducted. He said it was not the job of the board chairman to check these audits, the board chairman’s job was only to see the policy affairs. 

Reporter Ehtisham Kiyani