Web Desk (LTN NEWS): The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) went to the Islamabad High Court on Wednesday to challenge the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision in the case of illegal funding against the party.
In its petition, which was filed by Omar Ayyub, the PTI’s additional secretary general, the party asked the IHC to rule that the ECP’s decision from August 2 was illegal.
The PTI has also asked for the decision and the “show cause” notice that was sent to the party for not declaring 13 “unknown” accounts that were found to be linked to it to be overturned.
The application was put in by Anwar Mansoor Khan, who used to be Attorney General, lawyer Shah Khawar, and Faisal Fareed.
‘PTI stole millions of dollars ‘
Last week, the ECP announced its decision in the long-awaited, high-stakes case of the PTI’s illegal funding. The decision was that the party did, in fact, get money from people who shouldn’t have. It also sent the party a notice asking why the money shouldn’t be taken away.
The decision was made by a three-person ECP bench led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja. The case was brought by PTI founder Akbar S Babar and had been going on since November 14, 2014.
In its written order, the ECP said that the political party had illegally gotten millions of dollars from other countries, such as the United States, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and Australia.
“The office is also told to take any other legal action that may be necessary in light of this Commission’s order,” the 68-page ruling said.
The election watchdog also said that 13 “unknown” accounts were linked to the party and that Imran Khan, the leader of the PTI, had given “inaccurate and wrong” information.
‘All accounts legal’
Earlier, Fawad Chaudhry, a senior leader of the PTI, gave an explanation for the 16 party accounts that the election watchdog said were illegal and not declared.
At a press conference, Chaudhry said that before the elections, “subsidiary accounts were opened under the names of party leaders.” These accounts were then “declared.”
“The accounting formula is that accountants don’t double count,” he said, claiming that the 16 accounts were subsidiary and that if they had been included, “it would double the count.”
“The amount that goes into the main account is reported,” he said. “Accountants don’t count the amount in subsidiary accounts,” he said.
