Tag: foreign funding case

  • FIA books Imran Khan and others in ‘prohibited funding’ case

    FIA books Imran Khan and others in ‘prohibited funding’ case

    The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has booked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan and other party leaders in a case pertaining to their party allegedly receiving prohibited funding.

    The case was filed by the state through FIA’s Corporate Banking Circle in Islamabad.

    In the First Information Report (FIR), the federal agency alleged that Abraaj Group transferred $2,100,000 to PTI account. In addition, the FIR states that the party received more financing from two bank accounts of Wotan Cricket Club.

    The complaint named Imran Khan, Sardar Azhar Tariq Khan, Saifullah Khan Nyazee, Syed Yunus Ali Raza, Aamer Mehmood Kiani, Tariq Rahim Sheikh, Tariq Shafi, Faisal Maqbool Shaikh, Hamid Zaman and Manzoor Ahmad Chaudhary as signatories/beneficiaries of the PTI account in question.

    The FIR alleged the branch’s operations manager had also failed to report these illegal transactions to the concerned authorities.

    In August, the ECP issued its verdict in the prohibited funding case — previously referred to as the foreign funding case — against the PTI, which stated that the party did indeed receive prohibited funding.

    The ECP said that the party, in violation of the Constitution, had received funds from 34 foreign entities. The party received funds from the United States, Australia, and the UAE. The ECP added that 13 unidentified accounts also surfaced during the probe in the PTI funding case.

  • PTI foreign funding case: ECP reserves verdict

    PTI foreign funding case: ECP reserves verdict

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

    ECP concluded the case after seven years of trial, which started in 2014 when PTI’s founding member Akbar S Babar filed it. The date when the verdict will be announced is yet to be revealed.

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

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

    Read more: ECP barred: IHC suspends 30-day deadline order in PTI foreign funding case

    The report of an ECP scrutiny committee probing the party’s funds revealed the following details.

    The committee’s report showed that the PTI had only disclosed 12 out of its 65 accounts, which are registered with the SBP.

    The report stated that in the years 2008/2009 and 2012/2013, the PTI disclosed funding worth Rs1.33 billion against an actual amount of Rs1.64 billion, which was reflected in SBP’s bank statement. Therefore, the party did not disclose funding worth Rs310 million.

    A scrutiny committee of the ECP constituted in March 2019 to audit foreign funds of the PTI had finally submitted its report to the commission on November 26, 2021.

  • Ex-PTI leader says was ‘offered Senate chairmanship to drop foreign funding case’

    Ex-PTI leader says was ‘offered Senate chairmanship to drop foreign funding case’

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding member Akbar S Babar, who also filed a case against the PTI over illegal funding in 2014, claimed that a friend of Prime Minister Imran Khan offered him the Senate chairmanship if he agrees to withdraw the foreign funding case against the PTI.

    “A friend of Imran Khan offered me the post of chairman Senate,” he said, adding that he had “rejected all offers since I am on a noble purpose”.

    According to the former PTI leader, he had been threatened and cases had been filed against him for pursuing his case against the party over illegal funding.

    Meanwhile, the PTI has termed the allegations of Babar as baseless. In a statement, the PTI said that Babar was not offered any kind of position by the PTI. “He is blackmailing the party for the last eight years and no leader of the PTI has contacted him nor made any such offer. It is an attempt by him to raise his political stature.”

    FOREIGN FUNDING CASE:

    Meanwhile, the PTI has disowned the statement of its central finance secretary wherein he claimed that the funds from the United Arab Emirates were transferred to the accounts of four of its paid employees.

    Last week, a document submitted to the ECP revealed that the PTI employees were authorised to receive donations from within and outside Pakistan. The document, quoted by Dawn, had revealed the names of employees that included PTI’s telephone operator Tahir Iqbal, computer operator Muhammad Nauman Afzal, accountant Mohammad Arshad and office helper Mohammad Rafiq.

    Subsequently, an application was filed by Akbar S Babar, demanding all the personal front accounts of four PTI employees be requisitioned from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to ascertain the scope of the illegal fundraising.

    However, in a response filed before the ECP’s Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, the PTI stated the “respondent does not own such statement made by any of the office-bearers of PTI”.

    This is not the first time that the PTI has disowned a statement. Earlier, its counsel in the ECP had rejected Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement wherein the premier agreed to the open hearing of the foreign funding case.

  • Nawaz’s election campaign was funded by Gulf country, claims Sheikh Rasheed

    Nawaz’s election campaign was funded by Gulf country, claims Sheikh Rasheed

    Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed has claimed that a Gulf country funded former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s election campaign in the 1990s.

    In an interview with Samaa, the minister said that he was a minister in the cabinet of Nawaz Sharif at the time. Rasheed said he was accompanying Nawaz Sharif when it was revealed that the country, that is rich in oil and gas and also has an LNG deal with Pakistan, funded the former PM’s party as a “token of love”.

    According to the minister, the Arab country leader asked Nawaz: “Mr Prime Minister, we have given you a token of love on your election expenditure. Did you receive it?”

    At this, Nawaz responded that yes, he had received the money, said Rasheed, adding that he asked Nawaz to send them a ‘thank you note’ at least.

    It may be noted here that PM Imran Khan had alleged that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) received funds from foreign countries. The comments by the PM came in the wake of the hearings of a foreign funding case against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

    Last week, the PTI had said that its agents managing two limited liability companies (LLCs) in the US could be responsible for any illegal funding and PTI Chairman Imran Khan had nothing to do with it.

    In a response to the petition in the foreign funding case, the PTI, that had denied any links to the foreign funding, said that if the two LLC registered after the written instructions of party chief Imran Khan were involved in the illegal act, it would be due to its agents who were managing them in the US.

    The case was filed by PTI founding member Akbar S Babar in 2014. The Election Commission of Pakistan had started fresh scrutiny of the PTI accounts — a process going on since March 2018.

  • Agent in US responsible for any illegal funding, PTI tells ECP

    Agent in US responsible for any illegal funding, PTI tells ECP

    The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has blamed its agents managing its two limited liability companies (LLCs), saying the responsibility lies with the agents in case of any illegal funding from the United States.

    The Election Commission of Pakistan had started fresh scrutiny of the PTI accounts — a process going on since March 2018. The foreign funding against the ruling party case was filed by its founding member Akbar S Babar in 2014.

    In a response to the petition in the foreign funding case, the PTI, that had denied any links to the foreign funding, said that if the two LLC registered after the written instructions of party chief Imran Khan were involved in the illegal act, it would be due to its agents who were managing them in the US.

    The PTI said in its reply submitted to the ECP said that “any contribution that has been collected by the agent which may be questionable would be beyond the scope of the work/responsibility/instructions given by the principal (respondent)”. Therefore, the “principal will not be liable under Section 228 and not admit/certify such content”.

    Dawn reported that the ECP committee also refused to hand over the PTI’s financial documents to the petitioner’s lawyer due to the concerns expressed by the PTI.

    “The documents include 23 PTI bank statements received on instructions from the State Bank that were mostly concealed from the ECP,” it reported. However, the counsel of Akbar S Babar will be allowed to inspect the documents during the next hearing.

    The petitioner’s counsel Ahmad Hassan Shah said the refusal to share the documents was in contrast to the ECP order of May 2018.

    In a decision, the ECP had killed the PTI’s request to keep these documents and the scrutiny process secret.

    The body’s chairman acknowledged that the PTI’s bank statements and other documents were not being shared with the petitioner on the concerns of PTI.

    At this, the petitioner questioned the transparency of the inquiry, saying how could there be an independent probe if the proceedings were steered by the accused party.