ISLAMABAD - Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday accorded last opportunity to Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) to submit details of its money trail in the foreign funding case latest by May 30.
“This is the last chance being given to the PTI to submit documents in this connection otherwise the commission would take cognizance as per the law”, Chief Election Commissioner Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza warned while hearing the case.
The Chief Election Commissioner who headed the five-member bench acted on the application filed by legal counsel of the PTI.
At this moment, the petitioner Akbar S Babar, an estranged PTI leader, appeared before the bench and requested the Commission to write to State Bank of Pakistan about provision of details of the PTI accounts he had already submitted to the Commission.
He contended that PTI which had misappropriated millions of dollars received from overseas for building ‘New Pakistan’.
Babar said that money was received in PTI’s fake accounts through Hundi which was later misappropriated.
He reminded the Commission that PTI as usual is following delaying tactics to buy time as the party had promised on May 8 to submit the details yesterday but again failed.
On 8 May, the last hearing, the Election Commission had ruled that it has constitutional jurisdiction to hear the case relating to foreign funding of PTI and issued a notice to the party for reply. The ruling came after PTI had moved to Islamabad High Court against the Election Commission over its jurisdiction to hear the case.
PTI has been dilly dallying to submit details of its accounts relating to the foreign funding since November 2015.
The Commission also heard the case relating to contempt of court proceedings against Imran Khan filed by Akbar S Babar and adjourned the hearing till May 29.
Later talking to media, PML-N leader Danyal Aziz said that PTI and its chairman is avoiding accountability through delaying tactics but sounded confident that Imran Khan and his party’s days are numbered because of the legal implications of the ruling in the foreign funding case.
