Islamabad (LTN NEWS): All the lawmakers of PTI will be disqualified and its offices will be sealed if prohibited funding is proved against the party, said Former ECP secretary Kanwar Dilshad.
Election Commission’s verdict in the prohibited funding case, Kanwar Dilshad said that in case the verdict comes against PTI and the commission says the party received prohibited funding, then the body will send a reference to the federal government.
The apex court will then hold a hearing with a full bench, he said.
Before the government sends a reference, Dilshad said, the PTI can also challenge the Election Commission’s order in the apex court.
In case the SC bans the party, then all the accounts will be frozen, the offices will be sealed, and all the members of parliament will lose their status as lawmakers.
“A pandora’s box will open as Akbar S Babar has such evidence,” he added.
History of PTI Funding Case
The case against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for illegal funding began in 2014, when Akbar S. Babar, one of the party’s founders, asked the Election Commission to look into the PTI’s finances
Akbar S. Babar, one of the people who started the PTI, filed the petition on November 14, 2014.
The petition was filed under Clause 6 of the Political Parties Order and Political Parties Rules, and it was decided that the PTI had broken the law by getting money from illegal sources.
Under para. 14 and 15 of the Political Parties Order, the Election Commission was asked to do something about the officials.
Akbar S. Babar, a founding member of PTI, asked for more than 90 hearings of the case to be held in the Election Commission. On more than 30 occasions, PTI asked for the hearings to be put off because lawyers were sick or had to go on trips abroad or do other things.
During this time, PTI filed petitions more than six times to have the petitions ruled inadmissible.
The Election Commission told PTI’s lawyers 21 times to hand over relevant documents, and PTI changed 8 lawyers in this case.
In March 2018, the Election Commission set up the Scrutiny Committee to look into PTI’s finances. The committee met about 95 times over the course of a month to do its work.
Due to requests for delays from the Election Commission and other things, the committee took 4 years to finish its work. In January 2022, the Scrutiny Committee gave its report to the Election Commission.
The Scrutiny Committee found irregularities worth crores of rupees in the way PTI was funded and how it got money from other countries. However, the lawyers for both sides disagreed with the Scrutiny Committee’s report.
A request was also made to the Islamabad High Court to bring the 8-year-long trial to a logical end in the Election Commission. On April 13, 2022, the High Court told the Commission that it had 30 days to make a decision on the case.
Here are the details of what happened and what steps were taken in the Prohibited Funding Case against PTI.
Description of the PTI Prohibited Funding Case
Akbar S. Babar, a former founder member of the PTI who later left the group, filed the case in 2014. He said that around $3 million in illegal foreign funds were raised through two offshore companies and then used in an illegal way. Through “Handi,” methods were sent from the Middle East to the emails of PTI employees.
They also said that the money that came into the overseas accounts was not mentioned in the annual audit report that was sent to the Election Commission.
After that, the ECP didn’t start hearing the case for more than a year because the PTI asked the Islamabad High Court in October 2015 to audit its finances. CP needs to stop.
Here are the details of what happened and what steps were taken in the Prohibited Funding Case against PTI.
Reserved Decision was taken by ECP
The Election Commission of Pakistan decided to wait until June 21, 2022, to make a decision on the PTI case, which began in 2014.
The case was heard by a three-person panel led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja. Economist Arslan Wardak also gave his side of the story on the last day.
While putting off making a decision on the case, the Chief Election Commissioner said that the Election Commission wants to restore the voters’ trust and make the country stronger democratically.
Present Decision of PTI Funding Case
According to the Election Commission, the PTI has illegally taken funds.
PTI has been provided with notice. 13 accounts with no user names have also been identified.
“Funds are obtained from the United States, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates,” ECP
The explanation that was provided with regard to the funds was incorrect.
According to article 6, it is against the rules to withdraw money from accounts that cannot be tracked.
The verdict said that Tehreek-e-Insaf took funds from 34 foreigners including Arif Naqvi
The Chief Election Commissioner, while reserving the decision of the case, said that the Election Commission wants to restore the voter’s confidence and strengthen the country democratically.
The decision further said that Tehreek-e-Insaf disclosed 8 accounts while 13 accounts were kept hidden.
The decision further said that these 13 unknown accounts have come to the fore which Tehreek-e-Insaf could not provide records of.
The Chief Election Commissioner said that Chairman Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan hid accounts, hiding accounts is a violation of the constitution.
According to the decision, a show cause notice has been issued by the Election Commission for proving prohibited funding to Tehreek-e-Insaf.
Meanwhile, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry said in one of his tweets today that ‘both the Supreme Court and the High Court have decided that the Election Commission should decide the cases of the three parties, but the Election Commission should not deal with the funding issues of Muslim League (N) and PPP. Not bothering to look.
PTI’s announcement of protest outside the Election Commission on August 4
On the other hand, PTI announced a protest outside the Election Commission office in Islamabad on August 4 to demand his resignation after passing resolutions against the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) from 2 provincial assemblies.
Future of PTI
Due to the decision that is taken by ECP on the funding case, PTI could be ‘BAN’ in the future.
PTI members do not provide the justification for the decision that is taken by ECP today.
