Foreign Funding Case: ECP Adjourns Hearing Till Oct 10

A three-member bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday examined the proceedings of the special committee constituted for the scrutiny of foreign funding of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and adjourned the hearing till October 10

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 1st Oct, 2019 ):A three-member bench of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday examined the proceedings of the special committee constituted for the scrutiny of foreign funding of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and adjourned the hearing till October 10.

The commission headed by Chief Election Commission (CEC) Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan heard the arguments on various applications submitted by the PTI to the scrutiny committee with request to take notice of its concerns.

PTI counsel Saqlain Haider advocate informed the commission that the scrutiny parameters were not observed by the committee as per Supreme Court judgment. He appealed that the court may take notice of the leakages of information to the media.

He said that PTI had submitted all details to the scrutiny committee but it violated its mandate and made direct contacts with the banks to get information.

He said that during committee's proceedings, Akbar S Babar with malafide intention tried to defame the party through media while sharing wrong information about party funding.

The commission was informed that the scrutiny committee had established TORs in the light of Supreme Court order but later it continued its proceedings against the notion of TORs.

The PTI counsel said when the case was in the committee, media hype was created against PTI regarding foreign funding case. There was issue of leakages of information on the basis of documents submitted with the scrutiny committee, he informed.

He said that without any confirmation wrong information was circulated in media about 26 accounts, on which media started questioning. He added all such things politically damaged the position of the party.

He informed the bench that all required information about the accounts had been submitted with the committee.

He said that PTI never made any concealment however with intentions the party was maligned in the media. He informed the commission that several programmes were telecast on media on PTI foreign funding.

He said that the scrutiny committee had been requested several times to share copies of account details as shared by the State Bank of Pakistan attributed to PTI, but they didn't share it, he added.

Counsel of Akbar S Babar, Ahmad Hassan advocate denied any involvement on wrong sharing of information. He clarified that they always talked on facts finding rather taking matters personal.