Pakistan: Investigations reveal 'dubious' funds used for PTI media drive

Islamabad [Pakistan], September 3 : The investigation into the "dubious" money moved to Pakistan by the former owner of the Abraaj Group, Arif Naqvi, has revealed that a sizable sum of foreign money was used by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) during the 2013 general elections.
The documents, which were obtained by Federal Investigation Agency, revealed that USD 625,000 were routed through Wootton Cricket Limited, a Cayman Islands registered offshore firm owned by Naqvi, who is currently facing trial in a US court for a USD 1 billion financial fraud, reported Dawn.
And this is an addition to the USD 2.12 million received in the PTI's accounts directly from Wootton.
The documents further revealed that the money was sent from Wootton Cricket's account to "The Insaf Trust" account which is actually opened by former Prime Minister and PTI chief Imran Khan's close friend, Tariq Shafi, in his capacity as the first chairman of the trust.
Shafi also received USD 575,000 in one of his personal accounts and transferred it to a declared account of the PTI, according to Dawn.
Interestingly, the declared objectives of the trust were to promote a sense of participative democracy and rule of law, democratic values and political awareness in the society, besides undertaking activities in various forms to promote health education and social order.
A clause of the trust deed included: "The trust, its funds or property or association of the trustees with the trust shall not be used for personal gain of any particular person or a group of persons."
Other signatories of the trust's bank account were the late Ashiq Hussain Qureshi and Hamid Zaman, both close friends of Imran Khan, and it was opened in May 2012 at the Habib Bank Ltd, Lahore Cantt branch.
On May 3, 2013, three days before the general elections, two media management firms, namely 'Communication Spot' and 'Group M', were paid Rs 36 million and Rs 25 million, respectively, from the trust account for the PTI's election campaign. The account was used for just one transaction and has been dormant ever since, reported Dawn.
The funding for the media campaign through the account of a charitable organisation is said to be a serious violation of the Political Parties Order 2002, besides drawing charges of money laundering. This amount remained concealed from the Election Commission of Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the top investigation agency of Pakistan revealed that an amount of over PKR 787 million was deposited and then withdrawn from an undeclared account, allegedly maintained by the PTI with a now-defunct bank.
The development comes after the FIA unearthed three hidden PTI accounts which were used to funnel huge amounts into
Pakistan from abroad. According to Pakistan's local media outlet, these accounts were used for transferring funds from the Wootton Cricket Club.
Imran Khan's party PTI is under the scanner in foreign funding controversy, a document obtained by the FIA from the defunct bank, reveals that the PTI had officially authorized four individuals to operate the account, Dawn reported.
On August 2, the Election Commission of Pakistan, 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.