Audit trail: PTI accounts to be scrutinised by the ECP

Former PTI member alleges illegal funds raised in the US

ISLAMABAD: A full bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan on Tuesday ordered scrutiny of the audit reports of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), submitted by the party to the ECP. A report on the matter is scheduled to be submitted to the commission on April 1.

A four-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Muhammad Raza issued the directions while hearing allegations of financial corruption against the PTI levelled by its founding member and former central information secretary Akbar S Babar, who alleges that the party illegally raised funds from the United States and then engaged in their misappropriation.

During the proceedings, the PTI’s lawyer questioned the authenticity of the evidence presented by the prosecution, particularly with regard to documents from the US Department of Justice that show that over $2 million was transmitted over a period of two years from the US to PTI accounts in Pakistan.

The petitioner’s counsel Ahmed Hasan argued that the documents presented were authentic and could be accessed by anyone from the US Department of Justice website. He also stated that under the new law of evidence, documents downloaded from official websites can be presented as evidence in a court of law.

The PTI counsel refused to acknowledge the Special Audit Report authorised by Imran Khan in March 2013 as an ‘audit report.’ He said it was merely an investigative report and argued that the PTI annual audit reports submitted to the ECP were accurate.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the CEC dismissed the PTI lawyer’s plea and decided to scrutinise the PTI audit reports submitted annually to the ECP and set April 1 as the date of the next hearing.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2015.