Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s back-and-forth commute from the Prime Minister House to his own property in Bani Gala via helicopter cost Rs980 million, according to Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb on Thursday.
The newly appointed minister made the remark during a news briefing in Islamabad, when she chastised the PTI chairman for paying a fraction of the true value for Toshakhana gifts.
Shortly after the press conference, the minister issued a breakdown of Imran’s alleged helicopter expenses.
According to a thorough breakdown of expenses obtained by The Asian Mirror, the entire expenditure from June 2018 to March 2022 was Rs984 million, with Rs512 million spent on maintenance and Rs472 million spent on “expenditure during flight.”
According to the breakdown, the helicopter was operated for a total of 2,723 flight hours from August 2018 to March 2022, at an average cost of Rs275,000 per hour.
Total flying hours and expenditure during flight per year:
- Aug – Dec 2018: 289 hours at a cost of Rs37.9m
- 2019: 742.4 hours at a cost of Rs131.9m
- 2020: 729 hours at a cost of Rs143.6m
- 2021: 800.9 hours at a cost of Rs123.8m
- Jan – Mar 2022: 164.5 hours at a cost of Rs35.1m
Total budget allocated for maintenance (spares and consumables) per year:
- FY19 – FY20: Rs168.5m and Rs5m for a total of Rs173.5m
- FY20 – FY21: Rs200.7m and Rs3.5m for a total of Rs204.2m
- FY21 – FY22: Rs130.8m and Rs12m for a total of Rs134.3m
During her news conference, the information minister demanded that Khan show a money trail for the Toshakhana presents he kept, accusing him of keeping a watch, a pair of cufflinks, and a ring for a cheaper price than what was claimed.
Imran’s income records with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) did not show that he was in possession of the money he paid to keep the gifts, according to Aurangzeb.
Imran had also addressed the issue in a press conference on Monday, adding that he had purchased a present from a foreign president for half the amount.
In a news conference today, the information minister pushed back against the assertion, claiming that a watch, a pair of cufflinks, and a ring were kept at 20 percent of their original value rather than 50 percent.
“What Imran Khan is saying right now is just another fabrication. Inform the public that you kept [the watch] for 20 percent of its value and sold it for Rs180 million.”
While the Toshakhana objects were presents to the prime minister and could be kept, they could not have been sold for “four times their value,” according to the information minister.
Imran, Aurangzeb claimed, had turned the prime ministership into “a seat for business.”
Khan’s overall income and assets were Rs141 million, she added, with Rs142 million coming from the Toshakhana gifts he kept throughout his time as prime minister.
