FIA asks Imran Khan to share record of funding to PTI

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has sought records from PTI Chairman Imran Khan regarding the total funds provided to the party by national and international companies and business firms.

Following the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) judgment that ruled PTI received funding from prohibited sources, the FIA launched a country-wide inquiry into the matter.

In a letter to the PTI chairman, the FIA asked Imran Khan to provide the record of the membership fee from the establishment of the PTI till now.

The investigation agency also sought annual statements of PTI’s bank accounts since 1996, the record of its registered and unregistered organizations and trusts from the party’s chief.

Imran Khan is also asked to provide the record of PTI's national and international donors. The FIA also directed the PTI chairman to provide details of funds received from various companies in different countries separately.

The agency has also sought the list of the party’s office-bearers, their CNICs and the names of those who were allowed to operate the party’s bank accounts. The investigation agency has also directed Imran Khan to provide details of the board that is looking after the financial affairs of the party.

The party’s chairman and the general secretary were told to submit the details to the FIA within the next 15 days.

FIA summons PTI leaders in prohibited funding case

Earlier, the FIA summoned former National Assembly speaker and senior PTI leader Asad Qaiser,  ex-Sindh governor Imran Ismail and other leaders in reference to the ongoing inquiry on the prohibited funding case.

The notice sent to the former speaker stated that as per the verdict on Akbar S Babar’s case, Qaiser has two bank accounts and he is associated with the functioning of those two accounts; therefore he has been asked to appear before the inquiry team to answer questions regarding the details of the bank account.

A five-member FIA monitoring team has been constituted to supervise inquiries across Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar, Lahore and Quetta. The team is headed by Muhammad Athar Waheed.

The FIA launched the investigation on a letter written by Babar, requesting a probe against the PTI for receiving funds through accounts opened in the name of junior employees.

Akbar S Babar formally approached the FIA to initiate a probe against the PTI after the ECP verdict.

Babar told the FIA that the PTI’s financial board in 2011 illegally authorised four employees of the party’s central secretariat to collect donations in their personal accounts from within Pakistan and abroad.

A sum of Rs11.104 million was deposited in the accounts of the PTI employees which was beyond their known sources of income, Babar said in his letter.