Watch never sold to particular Dubai-based businessperson, says Fawad Chaudhry
Former federal information minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday denied that an expensive watch party supremo Imran Khan had retained from the Toshakhana had been sold to the businessperson who claimed to have payed $2 million for it.
Reacting to the statement from the the Dubai-based businessperson Umar Farooq that he bought the one-of-a-kind watch for $2 million, Chaudhry maintained that everything that Imran had done was as per the law, including retention of a gift received as a the prime minister, the money paid to retain the gift per the the ratio prescribed in law and then selling an object which he the fully owned.
In a series of messages posted on social media site Twitter late on Tuesday, the PTI leader clarified that the former prime minister had declared retention of the gift, particularly in asset declarations.
“When they failed to find a case against PTI chairman Imran Khan they implicated him in Toshakhana and said they sold a watch gifted by Saudi Prince Crown Muhammad Bin Salman at high rates in the market.”
“First of all, none of the prime ministers have ever received a watch worth $5 million,” he said.
Fawad explained, “On a foreign visit, a protocol officer from the foreign ministry receives the gift and submits it to the Toshakhana. Then he also submits the receipt of the gift into the relevant department.”
“Toshakhana falls under the authority of cabinet division where an independent committee decides the price of the gifts in accordance with the rules and informs the relevant minister or the premier.”
Fawad said before the government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) as per the rules, the gifts from the Toshakhana could be purchased with a 25% payment. The PTI government increased this percentage to 50%.
He made it clear via his tweet, “Imran Khan purchased the watch from Toshakhana as per law, and he has declared the watch in his tax returns and declarations submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan.
Fawad Chaudhry said the watch had not been sold to the person who claimed to be a buyer on the media. “He has no relation with Imran Khan neither direct nor indirect,” he added in his tweet.
