PTI Foreign Funding Case: ECP reserves verdict

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) reserved its verdict in the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) foreign funding case on Tuesday.

While the date when the verdict will be announced is yet to be revealed.

ECP reserved its verdict after the completion of a briefing by the financial expert brought by PTI founding member Akbar S Babar.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja headed a three-member bench of ECP that heard the case. 

The verdict was reserved after eight long years of hearings.

As reported, over 95 hearings of the case were held while the scrutiny committee held 96 sessions.

However, the CEC, on the occasion, said that parties to the case could be summoned again if the need arises in the future.

During the hearing, the financial expert maintained that audit principles and standards have been ignored in PTI’s funds and that the donors were not third parties but companies created by the party leadership.

A report of an ECP scrutiny committee probing the PTI’s funds had revealed on January 4 that the PTI hid funds worth millions of rupees from the ECP, 

According to the report, PTI provided “false information” regarding the party’s funding to the ECP. It said that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP’s) bank statement revealed that the party had received Rs1.64 billion in funding.

The party did not disclose funding worth more than Rs310 million to the ECP, the report added.

In 2019, the scrutiny committee was formed to audit foreign funding received by the PTI.