ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) scrutiny committee, formed in March 2018 to conduct scrutiny of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) accounts in one month, met again on Tuesday, but remained inconclusive for one of the members was unable to attend it.
Petitioner Akbar S Babar termed the PTI foreign funding case the foreign funding gate of money-laundering.
For the first time, the scrutiny committee met after 55 hours of perusal by the petitioner's nominated two chartered accountants/ financial analysts that concluded on June 2, 2021.
The PTI, which had welcomed the ECP order for nomination of two experts, initially, had not complied with it afterwards.
The petitioner's lawyer, Syed Ahmad Hassan Shah, assisted by Badar Iqbal Chaudhry, presented elaborate arguments on how and why the case had lingered on since November 2014.
He pointed out that the first phase ended when the committee was formed in March 2018. The second phase ended in April 2021 when the ECP intervened to allow the petitioner perusal of PTI documents refused by the committee. He reportedly told the committee that the third phase would end when committee submits its findings before the ECP as directed by the ECP in its April 14 order.
Shah also offered to assist the committee to prepare its report and answer any questions on the evidence submitted. Moreover, he is also reported to have communicated to the committee that the fourth phase would commence when the ECP reviews all the reports including that of the petitioner's financial analysts.
He reportedly said that “we have concluded perusal of photocopies as not a single original document was shared during 55 hours of perusal while the committee has been practically doing nothing in over three years time.
The committee meeting was adjourned without fixing the next date which would be communicated later to the two parties.
The petitioner and the PTI founding member Akbar S Babar explained the details of the perusal process and claimed not a single original document of the PTI finances had been shared for perusal to date.
“The committee also failed to produce a single PTI bank statement out of the six admitted international PTI bank accounts for perusal.
Similarly, no details of funds received in the personal accounts of PTI employees authorized by PTI Finance Board in July 2011 were shared for perusal,” he charged.
Babar lamented the lack of cooperation by a committee formed for fact finding which had turned into a fact-hiding committee. He said the foreign funding case had now turned into a ‘Foreign funding gate’. He said the issue of the committee's efforts to cover facts instead revealing facts, will be raised at all appropriate forums.
