PTI fund raising in USA: Case filed with New York district court

ISLAMABAD: A case has been filed in the US District Court of New York by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf USA LLC against PTI USA, alleging irregularities in PTI fund raising in the USA.

The court has reportedly issued show cause notices to all the parties and ordered them to cease all operations related to PTI USA LLCs and holding of intra-party elections in the US while the authorities investigate the allegations.

According to the US District Court Southern District of New York, “upon the affidavit of Imran Ata Igran, an authorised representative of plaintiff Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf USA LLC aka PTI USA and upon a copy of the complaint, it is hereby ordered that the defendant show cause before this court on March 24 at 10:30am counsel may be heard, why an order should not be issued pursuant to Rule 65 of the Federal Rues of Civil Procedure enjoining the defendants during the pendency of this action from holding elections under the name of PTI USA and from ceasing all operations under name PTI USA and from any and all use of the plaintiffs’ name PTI USA…”.

When approached on telephone, PTI Overseas International Chapter (OIC) Secretary Dr. Abdullah Riar maintained that the petitioner was neither the member nor director in LLC and already the party had taken disciplinary action and his membership was suspended too.

He emphasised that the party would contest the case and submit reply as per the law. Some inside the party believe that if more evidence surfaces during the case, it may bring more credence to the PTI foreign funding case filed before the Election Commission of Pakistan way back in November 2014 by one of its founding members Akbar S. Babar, who remained a close confidante of PTI Chairman Imran Khan for over ten years.

One of the allegations in the foreign funding case relates to two Limited Liability Companies (LLCs), registered in the United States on authority of the PTI Chairman Imran Khan to raise funds for PTI. Babar had alleged that the registration of the two companies for fund raising was illegal and collecting funds from foreign nationals and foreign companies was a gross violation of political funding laws in Pakistan.

Babar had shared documentary evidence from the US Department of Justice about the two companies registered in the US under the signatures of PTI Chairman Imran Khan for alleged illegal funding of at least dollars 3.0 million from PTI USA LLC No 5975 and PTI USA LLC No. 6160.

In March 2018 ECP formed a three-member scrutiny committee to scrutinize PTI accounts. However, the committee has yet to finalise its recommendations for the ECP to decide the case. In the meantime the petitioner Babar has cast serious aspersions on the credibility of the scrutiny process.

One allegation against the committee is that it has not seriously pursued to probe PTI fund raising abroad including in the US and made no effort to seek bank statements of PTI Companies registered in the US and elsewhere. He has accused the Committee of refusing to share the PTI records with the petitioner including the 23 PTI bank statements revealed on the instructions of the State Bank of Pakistan.

The CEC in a meeting with opposition leaders the other day had committed that the foreign funding case pending for over five years would be taken to its logical without any further delay. However, the hearing set for March 19 was postponed until April 13, mainly due to the coronavirus spread risks.

The proceedings of the case may further complicate matters for PTI, which has filed at least seven writ petitions in the Islamabad High Court and now before the Supreme Court of Pakistan over five years to allegedly stall and scuttle ECP investigations of PTI accounts.