ECP reserves verdict on PTI’s applications for secrecy in scrutiny of foreign funding case – Pakistan

The Electoral Commission of Pakistan on Tuesday reserved its verdict on four applications from Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) seeking secrecy in the scrutiny of its foreign funding case.

Former PTI member and petitioner Akbar S. Babar had presented the case of foreign financing to the ECP in 2014, claiming that nearly $ 3 million was raised in illegal foreign funds through two offshore companies, and that the money was sent to through illegal channels & # 39; hundi & # 39; from the Middle East to the accounts of PTI employees.

It has also claimed that foreign accounts used to raise funds were hidden from the annual audit reports submitted to the ECP.

In today's proceedings, the chief election commissioner, retired judge Sardar Mohammad Raza, said the PTI had submitted four new requests to the committee, adding that "they just wanted to increase the workload." He said the investigation committee had sent him requests so he could make a decision.

According to the PTI lawyer, in the four applications, they had demanded that information leakage be stopped, in response to which the head of the electoral commission asked what the committee had to do with the information shared in the media.

Saqlain Haider, the lawyer of the PTI Secretary of Finance, Sardar Azhar Tariq Khan, said PTI information was leaking and his secret was not kept. He said that incorrect news about the committee was being published in order to defame the political party, blaming the petitioner.

The chief election commissioner asked what had happened in five and a half years that the founding member of PTI, Babar, was now being accused of malice.

Babar's lawyer, Ahmed Hassan, said that the State Bank of Pakistan had informed the scrutiny committee about 23 accounts that received party funds.

According to Hassan, people inside the party had leaked information to the television reports they were mentioning.
He claimed that the party was using information that leaked as an excuse and fled [from the case].

The bank reserved the verdict, which will be announced on October 10.

Case of Foreign Financing

The dissident founding member of the PTI and the petitioner Babar, presented the case of foreign financing to the ECP in 2014 after he developed differences with the president of the PTI, Imran Khan, on internal corruption and the abuse of laws governing financing politician.

The petitioner alleged that almost $ 3 million was raised in illegal foreign funds through two offshore companies, registered under Imran's signature, and that the money was sent through illegal channels & # 39; hundi & # 39; from the Middle East to PTI employee accounts. He also claimed that the foreign accounts used to raise funds were hidden from the annual audit reports submitted to the ECP.

For more than a year, the proceedings of the case were delayed in the ECP, as the PTI had submitted a written request in October 2015 in the Islamabad High Court to restrict the ECP scrutiny of its accounts.

In February 2017, the IHC returned the case to the ECP for a new review of its jurisdiction. On May 8 of the same year, a full PCE bank once again expressed its full jurisdiction over the case and declared that the PTI had not presented any evidence that the petitioner had been expelled from the party and, therefore, lost the right to interrogate PTI Accounts.

In March 2018, a scrutiny committee was formed to analyze PTI foreign fund accounts.