Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that he too retained Toshakhana gifts but he submitted their details to the income tax department and the Election Commission of Pakistan while divulging his assets details in his returns, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The defence minister was talking to media outside the ECP office in Sialkot on Monday where he came along with other PML-N activists to submit nomination papers of his party’s contestants vying for upcoming election for Punjab Assembly. 

He said that the PML-N candidates were ready to contest elections. “We have come here to submit our nomination papers on the orders of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif. A large number of party workers are also accompanying the contestants,” he added.

The minister who hails from Sialkot, said that the nomination papers of all PML-N candidates from the city would be submitted today. 

On Toshakhana gifts saga, Kh Asif confessed that all rulers including him retained gifts from the government repository. “But there is a difference between us and Imran Khan in retaining the gifts,” he said adding that the PTI chief was not only a thief but he was a thorough crook. 

The minister said that when he retained Toshakhana gifts, he duly submitted their details to the ECP and income tax department while divulging his asset details in his returns. 

Reporter Mian Muhammad Ashfaq