ISLAMABAD: After a report of the scrutiny committee of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) reported irregularities in the audit reports the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) submitted to it between 2009 and 2013, Prime Minister Imran Khan welcomed the probe saying the process will provide “factual clarity” on the much-debated matter to the nation.
According to the report, the ruling party under-reported funds received from international donors and firms, and also concealed its bank accounts. The party under-reported an amount of Rs312 million over the four-year period, it claimed.
The report also mentions an alleged refusal by the party to divulge details of large transactions and the regulatory body’s helplessness to get details of the party’s foreign accounts and the funds collected abroad.
“The more our accounts are scrutinised, the more factual clarity will emerge for the nation to see how PTI is the only political party with proper donor base premised on proper political fundraising,” the prime minister tweeted.
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.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) January 5, 2022
In a subsequent tweet, Khan said he looked forward to seeing a similar ECP probe into the funding of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).
During Tuesday’s hearing in the case, Minister of State for Information Farrukh Habib had urged the election regulator to “complete scrutiny of [the] PPP and PML-N accounts” as well.
Today, the prime minister said the process “will allow the nation to see the difference between proper political fundraising and extortion of money from crony capitalists and vested interests in exchange for favours at the nation’s expense”.
In a post-cabinet meet on Tuesday, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudry termed the report as “inaccurate” and demanded an inquiry into the accounts of opposition political parties including the PML-N and the PPP.
“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,” he said.
PTI WOULD COOPERATE WITH ECP: MINISTER
Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar Tuesday assured the election commission the ruling party will provide full cooperation in the case.
Flanked by Habib outside the ECP offices in Islamabad, Umar said the party collected funds in the most transparent manner and the nation has full confidence in the leadership of Prime Minister Khan.
The ministers addressed the media at the commission’s office following their appearance in the case.
“Major blames were also made in the past by big leaders,” Umar said. “[Slain prime minister] Benazir Bhutto made allegations that Nawaz Sharif had party funding from al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden,” he recalled.
He added the PTI had filed a petition with the ECP to summon the reports from the three scrutiny committees. “I have no doubt that when [the] ECP makes the party funding report public, the masses will see that it was Prime Minister Imran Khan who collected the funds in the most transparent manner and that is why people trust him,” he said.
The minister further said the secret accounts of the PML-N and the PPP were coming to the surface, in a reference to the declaration made by Habib Monday.
