Islamabad, 04 Jan. 2022 (Express Tribune)

The Scrutiny Committee formed by the Election Commission of Pakistan(ECP) to probe the foreign funding case against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the ruling party headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan, has found irregularities in the audit reports submitted by the ruling party.

The Committee observed that during these five years under scrutiny, the Chartered Accountant Firms issued the same text of audit report to PTI Central Executive Committee (CEC). It also pointed out that the audit report of 2012-13 submitted to the CEC deviated from the accounting standards reflected as 'Nil'  by the Chartered Accountant firm.

It stated, “the petitioner provided documents pertaining to the receipt of funds through fundraising, donations and contributions by [the] PTI from [the] USA and other countries. [E]specially, the fundraising, which was recorded in FARA documents annexed by the petitioner with his complaint and subsequently downloaded by the committee from FARA website were examined in detail being a [piece of] material evidence on fundraising activity by [the] PTI in the USA.”

It is to note that Scrutiny Committee formed by ECP in 2018 was due to failure of PTI to submit details of bank accounts within Pakistan and abroad. 21 times, ECP sent inquiry to PTI which kept delaying using various delay tactics and never produced documents to ECP.

Upon formation of the Committee, the comittee sent a letter to State Bank of Pakistan asking details of PTI accounts in the banks. State Bank of Pakistan sent letters to inquire from banks in Pakistan and details collected were sent to the Committee. State Bank of Pakistan sent details of 28 bank accounts of PTI.

The petitioner Babar asked Committee to provide those bank accounts details s that he can help in that regard but he was refused by the Committee that PTI may not like that.

The petitioner also asked the Committee to obtain the details of the accounts of four PTI employees which were used for PTI funds namely - Saif Ullah Niazi, Amer Kyani, Sardar Hassan Tariq and Dr. Nouman, but the Committee refused.

Committee produced a report which was rejected by Chief Election Commissioner and ordered in June 2020 to Scrutiny Committee to submit it's report by August 2020.

On 14 April 2021, ECP permitted the petitioner to go through the Committee report and submit his comments. Two auditors were appointed by the Petitioner, S. K Babar who submitted his comments. He also requested ECP to provide him details of the 28 banks obtained from State Bank of Pakistan.

During the hearing of the foreign funding case at the ECP earlier today, PTI leader and State Minister for Information Farrukh Habib urged the election watchdog to “complete scrutiny of [the] PPP and PML-N accounts” at the earliest.

The ECP, however, asked the minister whether the hearing underway was regarding the PML-N and PPP accounts. The three-member bench headed by the chief election commissioner (CEC) told him to submit a separate petition if he wanted to.

During the hearing, counsel Ahmed Hassan requested the ECP to provide the petitioner with a copy of the scrutiny report and related material. The PTI counsel objected to his request, saying that the report was only meant for the concerned parties.

An ECP member said that the hearing was not ‘in-camera’. PTI lawyer Shah Khawar responded that the commission can make the report public after the submission of the ruling party’s comment on it.

“The report should be kept confidential till then,” he added. He urged the ECP to wait till the scrutiny of other political parties is completed and the peruse the reports together. “How can we examine all the reports together?” the CEC retorted and directed the copies of the report to be shared with the concerned parties in the case.

Akbar S Babar’s counsel Ahmed Hasan said that his client was not even provided with the data collected and compiled by the ECP itself. “Let us go through the report and then feel free to make it public,” said the PTI lawyer.

It is a common practice that relevant case records are public, but in this case, the record was kept confidential at the behest of the defendant, Babar’s counsel added.

PTI lawyer Shah Khawar said the ECP should give an order to keep the report secret. At this, the ECP bench said how can the commission give such an order during a public hearing of the case.

CEC Raja said there was a consensus in the ECP that there was no reason to keep the report confidential. He adjourned the case for a week, but at the request of the PTI counsel, the hearing was postponed for 15 days.

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.

Babar alleged serious financial irregularities in the ruling party’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.

Maryam Nawaz, Opposition leader and Vice President of Pakistan Muslim League(N) upon release of scrutiny committee’s report into Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) foreign funding case, in her Tweet has said that revelations, leaks and heaps of evidence are enough to get rid of the entire PTI including Imran Khan, adding that such serious frauds and scandals have never happened in any party in the history.

She said that the person who accused others of plundering has himself turned out to be a plunderer. She that Imran Khan not only stole and hid but also robbed the pockets of the people and rejoiced over their hard work and hard earned money.