PTI foreign funding case: CEC orders submission of ECP scrutiny committee status report in a week

ISLAMABAD: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja Tuesday ordered for submission of a report (interim) on the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) scrutiny committee's status in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) foreign funding case within a week.

He hoped the scrutiny report would be ready within four weeks.

Akbar S Babar, a petitioner of the party funding case, was heard at the ECP, regarding the threats allegedly given to him. His lawyer took the stand that his client was being harassed by the ruling party to withdraw the case.

“We are at the mercy of the Election Commission, no one should be threatened with freedom and life," he said. “We are being accused of lying," said Akbar S Babar.

His lawyer said that his client was the only party member who wanted to investigate funding for transparency.

To this, the ECP member from Punjab contended, “You can take support of 249A; you should contact the relevant forums on the threat issue.”

Babar’s lawyer said they had also contacted the relevant forums.

“We are following the scrutiny committee's ToRs [terms of reference] of the Election Commission and have completed our arguments in the committee,” said the PTI lawyer. “Now, the applicant has to submit a reply to our arguments, with the details of our party accounts, chartered accountants' certificates,” the lawyer added.

The lawyer argued that the committee was doing its own scrutiny in accordance with the ToRs; the committee could not go beyond its jurisdiction over the applicant’s wishes.

“The report on the current status of the committee will be completed in a week,” The ECP Director General Law informed the commission that the committee members were working from home.

The chief election commissioner (CEC) asked the DG in how much time, the committee would file its final report. He replied that it was now to audit bank accounts, to review the accounts, provided by the State Bank. The CEC directed the committee to submit its status report within a week.

The foreign funding case against the PTI was filed in Nov 2014, by Akbar S Babar, the party's founding member. The case alleged that about $3 million was collected in illegal foreign funds through 2 off-shore companies and that the money was illegally sent to the accounts of PTI employees from the Middle East through Hundi.

The PML-N leadership hoped that the ECP would bring the case to its final conclusion. Shahid Khaqn Abbasi, speaking after the hearing, said that if the CEC did not summon Imran Khan in the foreign funding case, “then your commission has no purpose”.

He contended that the ECP was formed with consensus and that they were hopeful that it would take the foreign funding case to its logical conclusion.

"We have not followed the case against the PTI in our time in the government, because we could have been accused of political victimisation," Ahsan Iqbal of the PML-N said. "We had a political tussle with the PTI; so we did not insist on these types of things because we didn't want to be in the impression that we were taking revenge," he added.

Abbasi said, “We are not in government anymore, so we hope that the institutions will take notice of these matters, because it is important for democracy of Pakistan,” he added.

PTI’s Minister of State Ali Muhammad Khan, on the other hand, told the media that all their record had been audited and all details submitted to the Election Commission. He pointed out that the opposition parties had fallen to the trap, they had set for the PTI in relation to the foreign funding.

The minister said that they had submitted all details, even minute ones, and now it was Shahbaz Sharif, Asif Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto to do so.

Earlier, the Election Commission heard a number of important cases, including the separate petitions filed by Akbar S Babar. The Election Commission reserved its decision on the applications till June 30, 2020. A request for hearing of the foreign funding case on daily basis, filed by PML-N Secretary General Ahsan Iqbal for making all available documents public was heard. The commission submitted the request for further hearing and discussion till June 23. Furthermore, the petitions filed against Federal Minister Faisal Vawda were also briefly heard. The lawyer for Faisal filed an application for quashing of all petitions and requested that the Election Commission did not have the authority to hold a hearing. The commission adjourned the petition till June 16, 2020 for responses and discussions from other parties.