Partners in Crime: Mr & Mrs Imran Khan’s Toshakhana Heist
In an interview with Nadeem Malik, Bushra Bibi claimed that Imran Khan did not even have proper suits or shalwar kameez to wear for official functions, expressing the simplicity of her husband.
Many times, PTI’s social media wing shares pictures of Imran Khan in torn clothes, or sleeping on the floor during Dharnas or eating with regular people, trying to show that Imran Khan is above worldly and material things.
This myth surrounding Imran Khan is believed by many of his followers who go on to claim that Imran Khan is different from his contemporaries since he is above riches.
But lets holistically analyse this claim without any emotion in order to discern the “simplicity” of Imran Khan.
In just the first two months as Prime Minister, Imran Khan declared more earning than any year from 66 years of his life, whether it was inheritance from his family or earnings from his cricketing time.
In 2018, before becoming PM, Imran Khan paid a tax of 282,449 PKR but the next year, after Toshakhana gifts had been retained by the former First Couple, Imran Khan paid 9.8 million in taxes.
It is pertinent to be mentioned that Imran Khan is also accused of significantly undervaluing the gifts he took from Toshakhana.
Case in Point: Imran Khan valued the Graff set gifted by Saudi Arabia to be around 1.5 crore rupees.
Though the gift wasn’t declared in Imran Khan’s tax returns or his papers submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan, a fake receipt of Art of Time from Islamabad was posted, showing that the set was worth 5 crores.
The owner of Art of Time, Mohammad Shafiq who is currently in the UAE has given a sworn statement in an affidavit that he never purchased the the Graff set.
Neither has Imran Khan revealed who paid the 1.5 crores in Toshakhana.
The real value of the Graff set is around $5 million, approximately 1.5 billion rupees but Imran Khan paid 1% of the real amount.
Since the transaction was supposed to be in the “grey market” the real price could not be offered.
Imran Khan gave the Graff set to Bushra Bibi who secretly gave it to Farah Gogi who flew to Dubai in a Bahria Town plane to sell the watch to businessman Umar Farooq Zahoor.
Umar Farooq Zahoor has confirmed that he bought the watch for around $2 million which is approximately 60 crores rupees.
None of this information would’ve come to light had Umar Farooq Zahoor not come forth and exposed the true reality of this transaction.
One begins to wonder why Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi would sell such a valuable gift given to the State of Pakistan by Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammad bin Salman, which also featured a model of the Holy Kabah.
Despite all of Imran Khan and Bushra Bibi’s claims of religiosity, they did not think twice before selling this gift.
Sources confirm that Prince Mohammad bin Salman was extremely upset after he learnt that the gift he had gifted to Pakistan was stolen and subsequently sold by Bushra Bibi via Farah Gogi.
This sale caused an immense diplomatic strain between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia which was later averted by the timely efforts of Pakistan’s Foreign Office after Imran Khan’s removal.
In total, Imran Khan retained 112 gifts from the Toshakhana whether it was Rolex watches, perfumes or even edibles.
Imran Khan retained at least 4 Rolex watches and also gifted precious diamond necklaces, earrings and rings to his wife and partner in crime, Bushra Bibi.
It is astonishing to believe that the man who had made such claims of simplicity completely wiped out everything he got his hands on from Toshakhana.
No Prime Minister in Pakistan’s history was this callous with State gifts but yet, PTI supporters still believe that Imran Khan is the personification of simplicity.
The cult like behaviour of PTI supporters can be seen on how hard evidence, whether it is tax returns or asset declarations by Imran Khan himself are ignored in favour of simplistic arguments and casual talking points.
One statistic which reveals how even Imran Khan couldn’t hide his Toshakhana profits from his tax returns is that in 2018, before becoming PM, Imran Khan declared had a total declared wealth of 57 million rs.
In 2021, when Imran Khan was still Prime Minister, his declared wealth rose to 141 million which included some items retained from Toshakhana but not all.
As Imran Khan faces the Toshakhana case, he has yet to provide details to the court regarding the circumstances which led him NOT to declare certain gifts.
The mystery surrounding the Graff set has also come to light after the buyer, Umar Farooq Zahoor revealed the reality after being tired of consistent blackmailing by PTI.
Imran Khan is yet to file any defamation proceedings against Umar Farooq Zahoor or Geo News, despite publicly mentioning his intentions to take this matter to court.
More surprising than Mr and Mrs Imran Khan’s Toshakhana Heist is the ignorance and innocence of PTI supporters who continue to believe that their leader is the epitome of simplicity whilst he enjoys Rolex watches and stolen Graff sets.
Partners in Crime: Mr & Mrs Imran Khan’s Toshakhana Heist - Islambad Insider
Islamabad Insider holistically analyses Imran's claim of simplicity by perusing his tax returns and wealth statements over the years.
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