PTI wants ECP to scrutinise assets of 18 parties

The PTI has demanded that the election commission should scrutinise the wealth statements filed by 18 political parties including those belonging to the opposition as well as its allies.

During a hearing on Wednesday, a five-member panel headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja gave time to the lawyer representing the PTI to examine the report on the asset declaration forms filed by other political parties and adjourned the proceedings till October 19.

The lawyer, Shah Khawar, told the panel that he would point out the discrepancies in the wealth statements at the next hearing after examining the report prepared by the political finance wing.

He argued that there were several irregularities in the statements and all political parties were bound to inform the ECP about their source of funding.

The PTI itself is undergoing scrutiny for its foreign funding sources.

The ECP has recently granted another six weeks to a scrutiny committee to complete its investigation in the case.

The commission in its order observed that the panel had neither assessed the evidence nor did it draw any conclusion and that the committee could approach all the forums concerned for the authentication of documents.

Petitioner Akbar S Babar and ruling party’s counsel Shah Khawar appeared before the ECP panel as it met to investigate the PTI foreign funding case.

The body sought more documents from the PTI and summoned both the parties again on September 24.

The PTI lawyer adopted the stance that the required documents would be submitted according to the terms of reference.

The commission declared the report submitted by the scrutiny committee incomplete and ordered the body to complete the investigation within six weeks.

The ECP in its order stated that it is the responsibility of the panel to completely verify the documents and that the probe body should mention the reason if any of the documents are not acceptable to it.

Later, speaking to media, petitioner Akbar S Babar noted that the scrutiny committee had been unable to fulfill its responsibility and added that money had been laundered through funding to the PTI.

“Again and again [I] said what sort of a scrutiny committee is this that was hiding the details of 23 accounts from the State Bank of Pakistan. Not even one account was made part of the record,” he said.

The ECP panel submitted its report to the commission on August 17 after meeting on over 70 occasions since March 2018 when it was formed.

The committee was initially mandated to complete scrutiny in one month.

However, its mandate was extended for another two months and subsequently for an indefinite period.

Finally, on applications filed by the petitioner complaining about lack of progress, the ECP on July 2, 2020 ordered the committee to complete its scrutiny by August 17 and submit a report to the ECP.