ECP scrutiny committee says PTI hid funds, but no word on foreign funding

A scrutiny committee of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) looking into the allegations of foreign funding to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said on Tuesday the ruling party hid funds worth millions of rupees from the ECP.

The report submitted by the committee said the PTI provided the ECP "false information" regarding the party funding. It said that SBP's bank statement revealed the party had received Rs1.64 billion in funding.

The report said the party did not disclose more than Rs310 million funding to the ECP. The committee was formed in 2019 to audit foreign funding received by the PTI. The case began in 2014 when the party's founding member, Akbar S Babar, filed it.

Babar said the PTI received funding from illegal sources and that it was involved in money laundering.

Today, in a tweet, Babar thanked Allah, saying he stands "vindicated".

In a related development, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said at a press conference "there is no question of foreign funding" according to the committee's report. He demanded scrutiny of the accounts of the PML-N, PPP and all other political parties.

"The report [of the ECP scrutiny committee] does not point towards foreign funding [...] it has been decided that there is no case of foreign funding," the information minister said.

He demanded the election commission put the facts of the foreign funding case before the nation, so that people can decide which party is raising funds through which means.

PTI has 'most transparent' funds collection mechanism

Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said earlier in the day that the PTI had the "most transparent" process of receiving funds and everything was documented.

Talking to journalists outside the ECP office in Islamabad, the minister said scrutinising bank accounts related to foreign funding of political parties was the ECP's job. However, he said the commission must do its work in the most transparent and impartial way.

"If ECP accomplishes its work transparently and impartially, it would have a very positive impact on Pakistan's politics," he said.

The federal minister said the scrutiny committees for bank accounts of PPP and PML-N had also been formed, and the ECP should also review reports prepared for those parties' bank accounts.

"There are a large number of secret accounts of the PPP and PML-N in addition to other accounts opened in the names of fake persons," the federal minister said.