PTI foreign funding: Millions of dollars transactions not shared with Election Commission of Pakistan
Feb 28, 2022
Islamabad [Pakistan], February 28 : Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party has been accused of hiding crucial information from the Election Commission of Pakistan regarding foreign funding case, according to media reports.
The State Bank of Pakistan's documents handed over to the Election Commission of Pakistan in the PTI foreign funding case shows that information about transactions worth more than USD 2 million dollars from 14 different foreign countries and hundreds of millions rupees' local transactions into the party's bank accounts was not provided to the ECP authorities.
According to The News International, the documents also show that the Imran Khan's PTI received USD 29,800 donations in 2013 from a business woman and her Pakistani American husband. But their donation was also concealed from the ECP.
The SBP documents reveal that millions of dollars transactions from 14 different countries, including Denmark, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Sweden, Singapore, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Saudi Arabia, Norway and the UAE, were kept secret. Apart from this, the information about hundreds of millions of rupees local transactions was also not provided to ECP authorities, the publication reported.
The facts include the concealment of dozens of bank accounts maintained in Pakistan and abroad. From fiscal years 2008-12, the party under the signatures of PTI Chairman Imran Khan only revealed two accounts for each year and for the year 2013 revealed four PTI bank accounts before the ECP.
Whereas, the record from the State Bank of Pakistan reveals that the PTI concealed five accounts in 2008, seven in 2009, thirteen in 2010, fourteen in 2011, and fourteen in 2012-13. The information about all PTI international bank accounts were not provided despite repeated orders of the ECP and the scrutiny committee, including six international accounts identified by the petitioner and conceded by the party, as per The News International.
The political parties order 2002 prohibits the parties from receiving any donations from foreign nationals. The ECP handed over the scrutiny committee report to the complainant Akbar S Babar on January 4, 2022.
However, critical portions of the report were kept secret, particularly all the documents and PTI bank statements acquired through the State Bank of Pakistan, the media outlet said.
