ISLAMABAD - In a major development, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has ordered access to all PTI record and bank statements acquired through the State Bank of Pakistan in July 2018. 

The ECP Scrutiny Committee had kept the record secret as the PTI objected to share the documents of the Foreign Funding Case with the petitioner Akbar S Babar, PTI founding member. 

The documents being made public would include all documents sought by the ECP through the State of Pakistan in its letter dated July 3, 2018. 

The documents include “(1) list of all bank accounts maintained by PTI anywhere in Pakistan from 2009 to 2013, with date-wise details of transactions, (2) Country-wise list of all fund transfer to the PTI accounts from abroad during 2009 to 2013 separately for each financial year, including names/particulars of remitters, and (3) monthly bank statements of all accounts maintained/operated by PTI in Pakistan and abroad for each financial year i.e. 2009 to 2013.” 

All these records were kept secret by the Scrutiny Committee since July 2018 despite vociferous demands of the petitioner Akbar S Babar for access to these critical documents. 

The development came on Tuesday when the ECP resumed hearing of the case. 

At the outset, the latest PTI lawyer and former Attorney General of Pakistan Anwar Mansur Khan, ninth since the case was filed, requested time to review the Scrutiny Committee Report as he had been reappointed to the case only two days back. Earlier Shah Khawar represented PTI in the case. 

The petitioner’s lawyer Syed Ahmad Hassan Shah criticised the Scrutiny Committee for keeping critical documents of the report secret. 

He read out the pages of the report where the Scrutiny Committee recommended keeping all documents acquired through the State Bank of Pakistan classified and secret. 

He said this alone showed the dishonest approach of the Committee to the task assigned to it. Before Syed Ahmad Hassan could further comment on the report, the Chief Election Commissioner intervened and said that “no portion of the report would be kept secret.” 

He said the case is now before the Election Commission of Pakistan and the Scrutiny Committee had completed its work and submitted its final report. He requested Shah to submit his detailed analysis of the report before the ECP to deliberate upon it. 

On the issue of PTI demand of clubbing all similar cases, Syed Ahmed Hassan Shan contented that the PTI demand is a ‘prosperous attempt to avoid accountability and scrutiny on yet another frivolous grounds.” 

The CEC also ordered that PTI documents kept secret to-date would be shared with the petitioner as soon as a written request is made by the petitioner.

Earlier, the ECP released its written order on January 4, 2022. On PTI’s request to keep the Scrutiny Committee report secret, the order reads “we are astonished as to how we can pass such an order when report submitted before us has become a public document. Therefore, being not convincing, application stands rejected.”

Talking to the media persons outside the ECP, Akbar S Babar termed the decision of the ECP to declassify all documents as historic. 

He said the Scrutiny Committee Report had documented all his allegations of funding from foreign companies, foreigners, and concealment of local and foreign accounts. 

He claimed the report documents that at least Rs836,897,508 and $1.6 million collected domestically have no source and details. “Similarly, about $2.1 million were illegally collected from a foreign company titled ‘Wootton Cricket Limited, Dubai, and about $50,000 from Bristol Engineering Services LLC, Dubai.” 

He hoped that now the case is back before the ECP after a gap of almost four years, the case would come to its logical conclusion soon.

On the other hand PTI leader Farrukh Habib while talking to media after hearing of the case said that PTI is the only party which has submitted all of its details of assets before the ECP.