Foreign funding: PTI received foreign funding, not through illegal means, says counsel

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Wednesday tried to justify funding from global firms and its lawyer sought more time to prepare his response regarding the prohibited funding listed in the Election Commission of Pakistan’s Scrutiny Committee report.

A three-member ECP bench resumed the hearing and the PTI lawyer gave final arguments in the foreign funding case. He tried to justify funding to the PTI by international companies and argued that as long as a multinational company does not fund a political party, funding from internationally-registered companies is not barred. To substantiate his point, he read out PPO 2002 Section 6, Subsection (3) which state that any contribution made directly or indirectly by any foreign government, multinational or a domestically-incorporated public or private company, firm, trade or professional association shall be prohibited. However, he avoided reading the subsection which states: “The parties may accept contributions and donations only from individuals.”

In response to a question posed by Election Commission Sindh Member Nisar Durrani that if he admitted the PTI had received funding through a foreign source, PTI’s counsel Anwar Mansoor said that the party received foreign funding, but not through illegal sources.

The PTI counsel said it was being contended that the party had received funding from the Sikhs, questioning if Sikhs, Hindus and Christians are not living in Pakistan.

After sometime, PTI counsel Anwar Ali Khan sought more time to prepare the response regarding the details of prohibited funding listed in the ECP Scrutiny Committee report. The petitioner, Akbar S Babar, was represented by Badar Iqbal Chaudhry. The hearing was adjourned until April 19.

Talking to the media outside the ECP, Babar, who is a PTI founding member, pointed out that the latest PTI attempt to dissociate him from the case failed when its petition before the Islamabad High Court was dismissed. He noted that on March 15, 2022, the PTI disowned 11 of its accounts it had earlier owned as part of the documents submitted to the Scrutiny Committee. He said besides others, these eleven accounts were operated by Asad Qaiser, Shah Farman, Imran Ismail and others. The PTI, in its written reply, has stated that these individuals were not authorized by the competent authority for opening bank account(s), therefore, these bank accounts were operated without the knowledge of the PTI Finance Department.

He said the PTI claims that the eleven accounts “came to the knowledge of the PTI upon the disclosure of the same by the State Bank of Pakistan” in July 2018. He said the documentary evidence now refutes the PTI claim as at least two of the eleven accounts it disowned were directly operated by the PTI Central Finance Board through PTI Central Finance Secretary Sardar Azhar Tariq Khan. He demanded that the new government immediately order an FIA enquiry into receiving donations into the personal bank accounts of four PTI employees on the directions of the PTI Finance Board with a copy to Imran Khan and Dr Arif Alvi. The board letter dated July 2011, a copy of which is available, is part of the evidence submitted to the ECP. He said the PTI Finance Board members who authorized the alleged illegal activity include Saifullah Niazi, Amir Kiani, Col (retd) Yunus Ali Raza, Dr Humayun Mohmad, Tariq Sheikh and Sardar Azhar Tariq Khan.

Babar criticized PTI Chairman Imran Khan for trumped up charges of government change, insisting that the real conspiracy happens when a political party is funded by companies and foreigners including those from India. He said as long as Trump of the White House was supportive to Imran Khan, the US was a friend and when Biden turned cool to Imran Khan, the US became an enemy. He said leaders extricate nations from crises instead of plunging them into more. He alleged that Imran Khan is only fighting for personal glory whereas leaders fight for national glory.