ECP again summons Babar, PTI in foreign funding case

PML-N, PPP will appear before the scrutiny committee today

ISLAMABAD:

The scrutiny committee of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has summoned petitioner Akbar S Babar and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) again on July 23 in the foreign funding case against the ruling party.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) will appear before the committee on Thursday (today).

A meeting of the ECP scrutiny committee was held on Wednesday which reviewed the replies submitted by the PTI.

The body summoned petitioner Akbar S Babar and the PTI again on July 23.

Babar, while talking to the media outside the ECP office, after the meeting, said that the scrutiny committee formed in March 2018 was supposed to complete its work in one month.

“We have identified five foreign accounts of the PTI, while the PTI has still not provided the details of 23 accounts in Pakistan,” he said.

“We had requested the election commission for the scrutiny committee to complete the investigation. The election commission has given time until August 17 to the scrutiny committee” he added.

Reposing trust in the ECP, Babar maintained that he respected the scrutiny committee.

The petitioner noted that he had submitted all the evidence against the PTI and added that the case had been pending before the ECP for the last six years.

He expressed the hope that after August 17, the PTI foreign funding case would enter a final phase.

The ECP had directed the scrutiny committee to submit its final report by August 17.

The directives had been given in an order passed by the commission last month.

The order stated that after the submission of the report by the committee on August 17, the ECP “will decide the issue after the perusal of all the record submitted by parties and collected by the Committee from SBP with the assistance and cooperation of the parties and their counsel”.

The order said that “full opportunity will be given to both parties to assist the Commission in a meaningful way to reach the credible conclusion”.

The foreign funding case against PTI continues to linger before the ECP since November 2014, when it was filed by the party’s founding member, Akbar S Babar.

He alleged serious financial irregularities in PTI’s accounts including illegal sources of funding, concealment of bank accounts in the country and abroad, money laundering, and using private bank accounts of PTI employees as a front to receive illegal donations from the Middle East.