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ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday heard the foreign funding case against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) after a delay of over a year.
During the proceedings, the ECP reserved its verdict on four applications by the PTI seeking secrecy in the scrutiny of its foreign funding case.
Chief Election Commissioner retired Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza said that the PTI had submitted four new miscellaneous applications to the committee. He said the investigative committee had forwarded the applications to him so that he could make a decision.
PTI’s counsel said they had demanded that the leakage of information should be stopped. The chief election commissioner inquired the role of the committee with information being shared on media.
PTI Finance Secretary Azhar Tariq’s counsel said that PTI’s information was being leaked and their secrecy was not being maintained. He said that incorrect news regarding the committee was being run to maligning the political party.
The lawyer for the petitioner said that the State Bank of Pakistan had told the scrutiny committee about 23 accounts that received party funding. He alleged people within the party had leaked information and was being used as an excuse to get away from the case.
The bench reserved the verdict which will be announced on October 10.
This case was filed by former PTI member Akbar S. Babar in 2014 after he developed differences with PTI chairman Imran Khan over internal corruption and abuse of laws governing political funding.
He has alleged that nearly $3 million in illegal foreign funds were collected through two offshore companies, and that money was sent through illegal channels to accounts of PTI employees.
He has also alleged that the foreign accounts used to collect funds were concealed from the annual audit reports submitted to the ECP. A scrutiny committee was formed by the ECP in March 2018 to look into PTI foreign funding accounts case.
