Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday hailed the Election Commission of Pakistan’s Scrutiny Committee report, according to which the PTI provided false information regarding the party’s source of funding, and hoped the electoral body would conduct a similar probe against the PPP and PML-N.
“I welcome ECP's scrutiny of PTI's funding through donations from Overseas Pakistanis. The more our accounts are scrutinised the more factual clarity will emerge for nation to see how PTI is the only political party with proper donor base premised on proper political fundraising,” he said in a series of tweets.
The premier was of the view that the ECP’s scrutiny on funding of two other major political parties – PPP and PML-N – would allow nation to see difference between “proper political fundraising and extortion of money from crony capitalists.”
The ECP's Scrutiny Committee said on Tuesday that the ruling PTI provided false information regarding the party's funding.
The committee was formed to probe the foreign funding case against the PTI and it submitted its findings to ECP on Tuesday.
The matter of PTI foreign funding was considered by a three-member bench, led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja.
The committee in its report also pointed out that the audit report submitted to the CEC deviated from the accounting standards as no date has been mentioned by the Chartered Accounting firm.
The report said that during the course scrutiny, the committee observed that the Chartered Accountant Firms issued the same text of audit report.
According to the report, the party did not disclose funding worth more than Rs310 million to the ECP, adding that according to the SBP's bank statement the party had received Rs1.64 billion in funding.
Petitioner Akbar S Babar came before the panel, as did PTI leaders Asad Umar and Amir Kiyani, as well as the party’s lawyer Shah Khawar.
Meanwhile speaking to the media outside ECP, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar said that the party had collected funds in a most transparent manner. He stated that standard of justice should be same for everyone.
Information Minister Chaudhry Fawad responded by saying the committee should present findings on all parties. He denied charges that the party received any foreign funding.
