ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan on Saturday announced his lawyers had filed a defamation lawsuit against Pakistan’s private news channel Geo TV, journalist Shahzeb Khanzada and Dubai-based businessman Umar Farooq Zahoor.

Khan announced last month he would take legal action against Geo, Zahoor and Khanzada after Zahoor gave an interview to the journalist on Geo News, saying that he paid Khan $2 million to buy a watch the ex-premier had received as a state gift.

In October, Khan was disqualified from holding public office in a case registered against him for failing to declare assets from the sale of state gifts. Khan was accused of misusing his position as then prime minister to purchase and sell gifts received during state visits abroad that were worth over $635,497 (Rs140 million).

Multiple references were filed against Khan accusing him of buying items from the Toshakhana, or state repository for gifts, to sell at higher rates in the market. A major charge was that the former premier failed to declare some of the earnings in his annual statements of assets submitted before the election commission.

“My UAE lawyers led by Hassan Shad have now filed criminal defamation (libel and slander) proceedings under UAE law against Geo TV, Shahzeb Khanzada and fraudster Umer Farooq Zahoor,” the ex-premier wrote on Twitter.

Zahoor said in the interview that he bought an expensive Graff wristwatch set from Khan in March 2019. The watch was gifted to the former premier when he went to Saudi Arabia on his first official trip in 2018.

Khan had denied the charges, saying that receipts and all other records regarding the gifts and their sales were present in the Toshakhana. He added that a propaganda campaign had been unleashed against him by the media group and the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.

Earlier this month, Khan announced his lawyers had sent a letter of claim to Geo in UK as well, demanding a response for the Zahoor interview.

Meanwhile, Khan is expected to make an “important announcement” today, Saturday, at Lahore’s Liberty Market area on when he plans to dissolve the provincial assemblies of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The move is part of Khan’s efforts to pressurize the government into holding early general elections.