Islamabad (Staff Report/Agencies): An accountability court on Wednesday sent back the Toshakhana reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against former president Asif Ali Zardari, ex-prime ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Nawaz Sharif.
Judge Muhammad Bashir sent back the references after the PPP and PML-N leaders applied to cancel the case because of the recent amendments made to the NAB Ordinance.
In March 2020, NAB filed the Toshakhana reference in an accountability court against the three political leaders, stating that former president Zardari and former premier Sharif obtained cars from the Toshakana by paying 15% of the price of the cars. The bureau further alleged that former premier Gilani facilitated Zardari and Nawaz in this regard.
The accountability watchdog claimed that former premier Nawaz was given a car from the Toshakhana by the PPP government in 2008 even though he did not hold any official position in the government.
Khawaja Anwar Majeed and Khawaja Abdul Ghani Majeed, the owners of the Omni group were also named as suspects in the reference.
NAB had requested the court to conduct a trial and sentence the accused to the strictest possible jail terms under the NAB Ordinance for their involvement in the corruption scam.
Toshakhana is a department under the administrative control of the Cabinet Division and stores precious gifts given to rulers, parliamentarians, bureaucrats, and officials by heads of other governments and states and foreign dignitaries.
