Perusal of PTI accounts concludes

ISLAMABAD: The perusal of PTI accounts by the petitioner's nominated two chartered accountants/financial analysts was concluded on Wednesday and reportedly not a single out of the admitted foreign bank accounts was shared for perusal during this process.

In all, the Election Commission of Pakistan had allowed 55 hours of perusal of PTI documents and despite repeated requests by the petitioner of the foreign funding case and PTI founding member Akbar S Babar, the ECP Scrutiny Committee refused to allow perusal of original PTI bank statements requisitioned through the State Bank of Pakistan in July 2018.

The perusal or scrutiny of PTI accounts was started in March 2018 by a three-member Scrutiny Committee constituted by the ECP to complete the process in one month. However, the process could not be completed in over three years.

After the perusal, talking to the media persons outside the ECP Secretariat, Babar thanked the two financial analysts, Arsalan Wardak and Mohammad Suhaib, for their perusal of documents made available to them. .

Babar said truth cannot be hidden for long despite the best efforts of PTI to delay and scuttle the scrutiny process documented in ECP order of October 10, 2019. He said if his auditors could peruse the PTI documents in 55 hours, how come the Scrutiny Committee could not complete scrutiny in over three years? He said the detailed perusal of PTI documents in a limited time frame also belies the claim of the DG Law who heads the committee made before the ECP that scrutiny process will continue forever. He had also claimed applications filed by both parties as another reason for the over three year delay.

Babar said the undue delay in scrutinizing the PTI accounts and the refusal to probe front accounts of PTI employees admitted by PTI casts a dark shadow on the intent and motives of the ECP Scrutiny Committee to conduct a transparent probe and scrutiny. Babar said the government should not be allowed to hide behind excuses for its failure to protect the journalists.