Govt moves swiftly to drag PTI to court

Federal cabinet approves sending declaration against party to SC

ISLAMABAD:

The government on Thursday decided to send a declaration against the PTI to the Supreme Court following the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision, which ruled that the party was without doubt involved in receiving prohibited funds.

Addressing a news conference after a federal cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said action against the PTI would be taken under the Political Parties Order (PPO) 2002 and the Election Act 2017.

On Tuesday, the ECP had finally announced its ruling in the long-awaited, cliffhanger case of the PTI’s prohibited funding and ruled that the party did indeed receive illegal funding. It had also issued a notice to the party asking why the funds should not be confiscated.

In its written order, the ECP had said the political party received millions of dollars in illegal funds from foreign countries, including the US, UAE, UK, and Australia.

Marriyum maintained that the ECP’s decision had clearly proven that the PTI was a “foreign-aided party”.

She added that under the law and the Constitution, the government was now bound to send a declaration to the Supreme Court.

Marriyum said after Ashura, the law ministry would prepare the declaration and present it at the next federal cabinet meeting.

The minister pointed out that the ECP was a constitutional body and the proceedings of the case were under way for eight years.

She added that the PTI took 51 adjournments during the proceedings of the case during this long period, changed nine lawyers, and filed 11 petitions in the high courts contending that it was not the jurisdiction of the ECP.

The minister further said it had now been proven that the PTI had 16 undeclared accounts. She added that the party had taken ownership of only eight accounts out of its 26.

Marriyum claimed that these accounts were opened in the name of PTI’s senior leadership including its chief Imran Khan.

“Money kept coming [into the accounts] in the names of PTI employees and it was not even declared,” she added.

Read ‘Secret powers’ want to rig elections through ECP to control public: Imran

According to Marriyum, who cited the ECP verdict, the foreign individuals and companies involved in funding the PTI included Wootton Cricket Limited, Bristol Engineering Services, E planet Trustees, PTI USA LLC, PTI Canada Corporation, Dunpec Pty Ltd of Australia and an Indian businesswoman Romita Shetty.

The minister said the cabinet had decided that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) would be assigned the task of investigating the prohibited funding case.

She added that all financial institutions including the FIA had already started investigating the individuals involved in the crime.

Separately, a three-member panel was presented to the cabinet for the appointment of the CEO of Pakistan Reinsurance Company. The cabinet approved the appointment of Farmanullah as the chief executive.

Similarly, she said detailed reports of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (PDMAs) were presented before the cabinet on rescue and relief activities in the flood-hit areas.

The minister added that PM Shehbaz was personally monitoring the relief activities in flood-hit areas.

The prime minister had visited Balochistan and other areas and ordered round-the-clock monitoring of rescue, relief and rehabilitation operations.

The PM had also visited the flood-affected areas in Dera Ismail Khan and Tank on Thursday, she added.

Marriyum said the federal government was in the process of distributing compensation cheques worth Rs1 million among each family which lost their members in the flash floods.

Apart from this, Rs500,000 was being given to each family for the reconstruction of the damaged houses.

The PM also approved the formation of a committee under the supervision of Finance Minister Miftah Ismail to consider the survey and plan accordingly with the provinces for rehabilitation and reconstruction.

The minister said a framework agreement between the governments of Pakistan and Denmark was also approved that would open a new chapter for economic relations between the two countries.

Other benefits of the agreement include interest-free loans, 35% subsidy and the transfer of Danish technology to Pakistan.

Marriyum said the interior ministry had recommended to the cabinet to reduce the sentences of prisoners by three months on the occasion of Independence Day.

The cabinet, after discussing the matter, had directed both the interior and law ministries to again present the summary on the sentence remission of the prisoners after a review.

Marriyum said the ministries had been told that special reduction in sentences should be recommended for elderly prisoners, women, children and all those who had completed two-thirds of their sentence.

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