ISLAMABAD: A report published in JEE News said that during the days of Imran Khan’s political support, some retired officers approached the Election Commission of Pakistan to deal with the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) foreign funding case. “managed” the delay.
An informed source, who was keeping a close eye on what was going on behind the scenes these days, however, insisted that Imran Khan’s alleged foreign funding case against the PTI was to be decided. There was no pressure on the ECP.
Imran Khan has repeatedly said that the ECP was asked to decide the cases against him and his party. On the contrary, sources said that retired officers played their role in the delay in PTI’s foreign funding case. Subsequently, the ECP was left to decide the case on its own merits.
The PTI foreign funding case was filed in November 2014 after party founder member Akbar S. Babar alleged massive financial irregularities in the party’s funding from Pakistan and abroad.
There has been an inordinate delay in deciding the case. Sources said the delay was due to the influence of retired officers.
Timeline of Foreign Funding Case
According to the timeline of PTI’s foreign funding case as reported by Daily Dawn recently, Babar filed an application with the ECP on November 14, 2014 to investigate the financial irregularities of PTI’s funding.
On 14 January 2015, the ECP issued a notice to Babar asking him to appear before the commission and provide evidence in support of his allegations.
On 1 December 2016, the ECP asked the PTI to submit documents related to its foreign funding or face consequences. The then KCEC also held PTI responsible for the delay in processing the case.
On March 22, 2017, the ECP adjourned the case after reprimanding the party counsel for seeking further adjournment.
On 3 April 2017, PTI’s counsel finally appeared before the ECP but only to challenge the commission’s jurisdiction to hear the matter.
On May 8, the ECP rejected PTI’s plea challenging the commission’s jurisdiction in the case. The ECP fixed May 17 as the date for the formal hearing of the case. On 11 September 2017, the ECP gave another opportunity to PTI to submit financial documents and details of funds received.
On 17 September 2017, after months of delay, the PTI finally submitted the party accounts and details of foreign funding received over the past seven years to the ECP.
On March 27, 2018, the ECP constituted a three-member scrutiny committee to probe and audit PTI’s accounts and completed the scrutiny within a month.
On 9 May 2018, PTI changed its counsel as Babar Awan replaced Anwar Mansoor Khan.
On 16 May 2018, PTI applied to the ECP for confidentiality of its foreign funding probe.
On 30 May 2018, the ECP rejected PTI’s appeals to stop the scrutiny committee and keep the scrutiny process confidential.
On 2 October 2018, PTI’s lawyer Babar Awan withdrew from representing the party in the case.
On 1 October 2019, the ECP reserved its decision on privacy pleas pending scrutiny by PTI.
On 10 October 2019, the ECP rejected PTI’s privacy pleas and directed the Scrutiny Committee to continue investigating the case.
On 20 November 2019, the ECP ordered a daily hearing of the case.
On September 21, 2020, the ECP trashed the report submitted by its Scrutiny Committee. The commission said in its order that the report was neither complete nor detailed.
On 14 January 2021, the opposition alliance decided to march to the Election Commission office in Islamabad to protest in front of the electoral body and demand an early verdict in the case.
On January 20, 2021, when the opposition protested and criticized the ECP for the delay, then Prime Minister Imran Khan demanded an open trial and challenged the leadership of all opposition parties to face action.
On 18 February 2021, PTI released details of funds worth crores of rupees transferred from the UK to the party’s account last year.
On 16 March 2021, the ECP issued a notice to the PTI and its Scrutiny Committee to explain its position on the secrecy of scrutiny in the case.
On April 9, 2021, the petition asked the ECP committee to verify the authenticity of the documents submitted by the PTI in the presence of both the parties.
On 30 November 2021, the Scrutiny Committee submitted another report to the ECP after a delay of six months from the deadline.
On 9 December 2021, the ECP postponed its DG Law’s briefing on the case due to the absence of a commission member from Balochistan.
On 4 January 2022, a damning report compiled by the Scrutiny Committee confirmed that the PTI received funds from foreign nationals and companies, underreported the funds and concealed its multiple bank accounts.
On January 19, 2022, the ECP ordered declassification of all important documents related to the foreign funding case.
On 14 April 2022, a PTI lawyer claimed that the PPO allows funds to be drawn from any international source unless it is from a multinational. He also claimed that PTI did not receive any funding from illegal sources.
On April 19, 2022, the ECP bench resumed the foreign funding case.
On 23 April 2022, the PTI demanded a probe into the funds of at least 17 major political parties, including the PML-N and the PPP, in the Islamabad High Court.
On May 18, the IHC questioned the ECP over the eight-year delay in reaching a conclusion and ruling on the protracted case.
On 15 June 2022, the CEC accepted PTI’s counsel’s lengthy plea to refer the case as “Prohibited Funding” instead of “Foreign Funding”. On the same day, PTI asked the ECP to decide all the funding cases together.
On 21 June 2022, the ECP reserved its decision on the PTI funding case.
On 29 July 2022, the Financial Times published a report revealing that tycoon Arif Naqvi organized a charity cricket match, the proceeds of which were used to bankroll the PTI.
On 30 July 2022, Imran Khan insisted that all Arif Naqvi’s funds came through banking channels and were disclosed.
On 1 August 2022, the ECP announced that it would issue its verdict in the case the next day.
On August 2, CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja delivered a verdict and found that PTI had received prohibited funding and issued a show-cause notice to PTI asking why the commission should not confiscate the funds.
