PTI foreign funding case: ECP to hold hearings on daily basis

ISLAMABAD: Apparently, without giving a timeline to the scrutiny committee, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has accepted the opposition Rahber Committee’s request to hear the foreign funding case on a daily basis.

The nine-party opposition ‘alliance’ appears in a hurry to wrap up the case against the ruling PTI way back in November 2014, as the Chief Election Commissioner Justice (R) Sardar Muhammad Raza will be retiring in the first week of next month.

Former central vice-president and information secretary and a close confidant of PTI Chairman Imran Khan Akbar S Babar had moved the commission five years back, alleging glaring irregularities with regard to the foreign funding of the party. The ruling party, however, has been denying any irregularity, insisting its accounts were always properly audited.

Contrary to it, Babar believes he has enough documentary evidence in support of his claim and says the account details shared with the ECP by the State Bank ofPakistan were also an eye-opener.

Keeping in view this factor, the Rahber Committee submitted a memorandum to the ECP Secretary Babar Yaqoob Fateh Muhammad, urging that the case hearings be held on a daily basis and the judgment announced before the CEC retires.

The scrutiny committee consists of three members, headed by a director general of the Election Commission and its other two members are from the armed forces. The committee has been holding meetings for the last several months to furnish its report on the PTI accounts but owing to various reasons, is yet to give the final shape to the report.