Imran Khan's party challenges foreign funding case verdict in Islamabad HC

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday challenged the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) verdict in the prohibited funding case in the Islamabad High Court, local media reported.

Additional Secretary General of PTI Omar Ayub challenged the verdict in the IHC and pleaded with the court to strike down ECP's verdict in PTI prohibited funding case, ARY News reported.

ECP has been made respondent in the case.

Earlier, former Minister for Planning Asad Umar had said that there is no threat to Imran Khan's politics. The Election Commission of Pakistan has violated the Supreme Court's verdict because the commission mentioned PTI Chief Imran Khan's false affidavit, ARY News reported.

"The Political Parties Act 2002 mentions a certificate and not an affidavit," he said.

"Bilawal himself said that Nawaz Sharif had taken money to overthrow the government. The economy of the country is standing only because of the remittance of money from overseas, the Election Commission has become a biased and political opponent," he had added.

On August 2, ECP, in its unanimous verdict, ruled that the party received funds from 351 businesses including business tycoon Arif Naqvi and from 34 foreign nationals. The donations were sent from America, Australia, Canada, and the UAE.

The ECP observed the 'unknown accounts' and said that hiding accounts are a "violation of the Constitution".

The ECP bench in its reserved verdict said prohibited funding against PTI had been proven.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja, comprising Nisar Ahmed Durrani and Shah Muhammad Jatoi announced the reserved verdict.

Moreover, it found that PTI Chairman and former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan submitted a false Nomination Form I.

The ECP decided to issue a show-cause notice to the PTI to explain why the commission should not seize the funds it received.

Notably, Akbar S Babar, the man who blew the lid off the scam involving the inflow of dubious foreign funds into Imran Khan's political outfit Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) formally approached the FIA to initiate a probe against the PTI.

Babar told the FIA that the PTI's financial board 2011 illegally authorised four employees of the party's central secretariat to collect donations in their personal accounts from within Pakistan and abroad.

Following this, the Federal Investigation Agency of Pakistan constituted a sex member team to probe into the matter.

Pakistan's FIA has summoned 10 leaders of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf including former National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, former Sindh governor Imran Ismail, Mian Mahmood-ur-Rashid, former MPA Seema Zia and others to address questions during the probe.

The probe agency has also identified four employees of the PTI secretariat, whose personal and salary accounts were used for receiving foreign funding. The agency said funds were received in the bank accounts of Muhammad Arshad, Tahir Iqbal, Muhammad Rafique, and Nauman Afzal. In the statements, the PTI employees said that they used to give the money received in their accounts to PTI's finance manager, according to a report in a local Pakistan newspaper.

They said they would give signed blank cheques to the finance manager. According to the publication, the FIA came to know during the investigation that besides other accounts, foreign funding was also received in employees' salary accounts.

The summoned PTI leader Qaiser is expected to record his statement on August 11 at 2 pm, while Imran Ismail and Seema Zia have been asked to appear before the agency on August 12 and 15 respectively.

( With inputs from ANI )

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