Islamabad (LTN NEWS): As per the record available to the FT reporter, PTI received foreign funding and ECP should now look into it, says Hamir Mir
Senior anchorperson and political analyst Hamid Mir on Friday claimed that the data available to the Financial Times has refuted the PTI’s assertions that it did not get foreign funding.
Mir said after an FT report stated that Imran Khan’s party was provided massive funds through Abraaj founder Arif Naqvi’s offshore company in 2013.
“PTI had stated that the fund was gathered from Pakistanis but the UK magazine has disputed the assertions of PTI, Imran Khan, and Arif Naqvi. As per the data available to the [FT] reporter, PTI received foreign funds and ECP should now check into it.”
Mir stated that FT journalist Simon Clarke, who was previously linked with WSJ, has been working on this subject for the last three-four years and has written an entire book on Arif Naqvi titled “The Key Man”, published last year.
About the PTI’s reaction to the report, the anchorperson added that the party is now arguing that Naqvi is being targeted because he is Muslim.
“It is not true. The US is probing [Arif Naqvi’s] donations to Barack Obama’s government as well,” Mir stated.
Giving information on the foreign funding issue against PTI, he noted that Arif Naqvi sent an affidavit to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) earlier this year and admitted to the funding but claimed that it was obtained from British Pakistanis. Mir said the Abraaj founder “cleverly didn’t sign it and put a date”.
“He might have not signed it because he probably knew that he is not providing the correct information,” the anchorperson said.
The story is based on email and bank account details of Wootton Cricket and PTI, the journalist said.
“One important thing to note here is that PTI and Naqvi informed the ECP that they received $1.12 million from the Wootton club but the source was not disclosed and it has now been revealed by the FT. The actual amount was 2.12 million dollars which also includes 1.03 million dollars of Abraaj Group which were provided by K-Electric and transferred to Wotton Cricket and ultimately landed in PTI’s accounts,” Mir said.
Naqvi, Mir added, is fighting a legal battle with the US over his extradition but the UK authorities are delaying the matter because the Abraaj founder may reveal information as he was also associated with Prince Charles’ charity.
According to the FT report, Naqvi also funded Pakistani politicians in 2016 including former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif but the PML-N has denied it. The story, he said, has used the word alleged because the reporter does not have any evidence to support this.
Mir said that the FT journalist has all the records related to PTI and the ECP now has more details to probe further.
He agreed with PTI’s demand to decide the cases of all the parties together.
