Imran Khan-led ruling party received Rs 2.2 billion illegal funding, says Babar

Ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party has received illegal funding amounting to Rs 2.20 billion between 2009-2013, said disgruntled party leader and founder of PTI Akbar S Babar, citing a report.

Dawn reported that Babar who is also a petitioner in the foreign funding case claimed on Tuesday that a fact-finding report has revealed that the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf received illegal funding to the tune of Rs 2.20 billion during the period between 2009 and 2013.

He said it was just the tip of the iceberg as complete details of the accounts opened in the name of four-party employees as well as the party's accounts in and outside the country had not been shared. He further said the prohibited funding received by the party would be manifold high if a thorough probe was carried out.

Earlier in the day, Babar along with his legal team handed over the report to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The report is based on perusal of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party records submitted by the party to the ECP in compliance with its order issued on April 14. The perusal of the ruling party records was conducted by financial experts Arsalan Vardag and Muhammad Sohaib.

The report noted that the April 25, 2018 order of the ECP's scrutiny committee sought PTI's bank statements of accounts in Pakistan and abroad, but these were not shared. Not a single bank statement of registered and acknowledged international companies/entities of the PTI have been provided by the party.

It further said that the source and details of the funds received in four PTI employees' personal bank accounts, authorised by the PTI's finance board in July 2011, were not shared. PTI chairman Imran Khan and secretary-general Dr Arif Alvi approved receipt of funding in PTI employees' accounts as suggested by the approval document, reported Dawn.

The report provides details and references of the funds received from prohibited or unknown sources from within the country and abroad. It also cited prohibited funding from two PTI-registered companies (PTI NA LLC 5975 & 6160) amounting to 1,998, 700 and 579,000, dollars respectively. It includes prohibited funding from 221 business entities/companies/foreigners.

Meanwhile, the Imran Khan-led government rejected the report as "a pack of lies and figment of the imagination of Akbar S Babar". Commenting on the report, PTI central information secretary Ahmad Jawad said the party had submitted all the documents sought by the ECP and its scrutiny committee. He said the PTI had also provided details of its 40,000 donors.

( With inputs from ANI )