PTI told to give timeframe for its foreign funding case

CEC says delay in matter tainting party’s image internationally, adjourns hearing till today

ISLAMABAD:

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday gave the PTI a day more to inform it how much time it would require to complete its arguments in the foreign funding case.

During a hearing of the case, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, who was heading a three-member bench, told PTI lawyer Anwar Mansoor that he had promised to submit the balance sheet of the party’s accounts, but had not done so.

“How much time does your financial expert need to submit the balance sheet?” he inquired.
In response, the PTI lawyer told the CEC that the foreign funding case in the ECP was affecting the proceedings of a similar matter being heard by the Islamabad High Court.

He added that the ECP should postpone the process of scrutiny until the IHC gave its verdict.
The CEC told him that the ECP and IHC had their own jurisdictions. He added that the delay in the case was tainting the image of the PTI on a global scale.

The lawyer said he would let the ECP know about when the arguments would be completed after consulting with the PTI’s financial expert.

The CEC replied that this could be done in five minutes and the commission would remember the party’s record verbally.

The CEC, adjourning the hearing till Thursday (today), directed the PTI lawyer to inform the commission as to how much time they wanted to finish their arguments.

Earlier, the CEC expressed his displeasure over the late arrival of the PTI’s financial expert, Najam Shah, at the hearing.

He noted that a single individual had wasted half an hour of the people. The party’s financial expert informed the bench that according to the scrutiny committee, the PTI had received funds worth Rs938 million in 2010-11.

He added that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had identified 15 bank accounts belonging to the PTI in 2010-11.

Shah told the ECP that the PTI had five centrally audited accounts in 2010-11. He further maintained that seven of the accounts reported by the SBP had nothing to do with the PTI.

The financial expert further told the ECP bench that the scrutiny committee had made an overstatement of Rs59.7 million in the funds for the year 2011-12.

Shah said the scrutiny committee had claimed that the party had received more than Rs1.19 billion in 2012-13.

The SBP had identified 19 bank accounts belonging to the PTI in 2012-13, he added. “The PTI had eight centrally audited accounts in 2012-13.”

Shah claimed that the party had transferred Rs749.4 million from KASB Bank to five accounts in other banks during that period.

Shah argued that the scrutiny committee made an overstatement of Rs146.4 million in the year 2012-13.
He contended that the PTI had received Rs1.5 billion funding in 2012-13 but because of the “incorrect calculation” of the scrutiny committee, over a sum of Rs146.4 million was added to the total amount during that period.

Shah argued that the scrutiny committee had sought bank account details from the SBP without being authorised to do so. ECP Member Nisar Durrani inquired as to why the financial expert was implying that the scrutiny committee did not have the authority to write to the SBP.

PTI lawyer Mansoor replied that the scrutiny committee had written a letter to the SBP using its powers.
He added that the SBP had recorded several bank accounts the PTI was not aware of.
“The PTI Central Finance Wing did not know about individually owned accounts.”