NAB decides to call watch buyer to testify in Toshakhana reference

Following the emergence of the alleged buyer of a rare watch retained from the Toshakhana by the former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and later sold, the apex anti-graft watchdog has now decided to solve this query.

In this regard, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has decided to expand its investigation into the Toshakhana reference.

The bureau said that it would ask the buyer, Dubai-based Umer Farooq Zahoor, to come and testify.

NAB is further considering calling Mirza Shehzad Akbar, who first reached out to Zahoor, and Farah Gujjar, who is accused of taking the watch to Zahoor and taking cash against it from him.

The anti-graft body will also review records of the Toshakhana to determine when the watch was taken and sold and when money against it was deposited in the exchequer and how much.

At this stage, the purpose is to ascertain the facts of the matter.

NAB will also seek answers to the questions of what was the true value of the watch?

Other questions that it seeks to answer include how much money was submitted in the national exchequer? Where was it sold and when, and where did the proceeds of the sale go?

If the watch was sold abroad, were all legal requirements fulfilled to take it out of the country and how were the proceeds brought back to Pakistan?

All the new facts will be investigated from all angles.

At a later stage in the investigation, NAB may consider summoning Imran Khan as well.