ECP report: Facade of 'Sadiq and Ameen' shredded into pieces, says Shehbaz

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif has said that the report of the Scrutiny Committee into Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf's (PTI) finances in ‘Foreign Funding Case’ has shredded Prime Minister Imran Khan's facade of "Sadiq and Ameen" (honest and righteous) into pieces.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Shehbaz said that truth had a strange way of exposing people, adding that Scrutiny Committee's report is an indictment of PM Imran.

"The PTI has been running away from the foreign funding case for last 7 years and now we know why. The facade of 'Sadiq aur Ameen' has been shredded into pieces," he tweeted.

Meanwhile, PM Khan also took to his Twitter on Wednesday, welcoming the ECP's scrutiny.

"The more our accounts are scrutinised the more factual clarity will emerge for the nation to see how PTI is the only political party with proper donor base premised on proper political fundraising," he said.

He further said that he now looks forward to a similar ECP scrutiny on the funding of PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

"This will allow the nation to see difference between proper political fundraising and extortion of money from crony capitalists and vested interests in exchange for favours at nation's expense," he said.

The statements come after the ECP in a report compiled by its scrutiny committee said that PTI received funding from foreign nationals and companies, under-reported funds and concealed dozens of its bank accounts.

Foreign funding case: ECP directs scrutiny committee to refurnish its report

The report says that PTI under-reported an amount of Rs312 million over a four-year period, between FY2009-10 and FY2012-13. An amount of over Rs145m was under-reported in FY2012-13 alone, year-wise details show.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, the ECP rejected the request of PTI for not to make public the report of Scrutiny Committee into party’s finances in ‘Foreign Funding Case’ till the arrival of Scrutiny Committees’ reports of PML-N and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). The commission sought progress reports from the scrutiny panels regarding probe into accounts of the two opposition parties within 10 days.

Foreign funding case: ECP rejects PTI’s plea

A three-member bench of ECP led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja and comprising of Nisar Ahmed Durrani and Shah Muhammad Jatoi heard the high-profile case 16 months after it first directed the Scrutiny Committee to furnish report into PTI’s finances by August 2020.

PTI’s counsel Advocate Shah Khawar requested the electoral body not to make public Scrutiny Committee’s report related to PTI till the arrival of related reports concerning the N-League and PPP.

“How can we stop this report from being made public,” remarked Durrani, the Member ECP.

The CEC seconded him. “Do we have the authority to stop anyone from making a report public,” he asked the PTI counsel. “We cannot do that,” Raja added.

The bench then directed that copies of the Scrutiny Committee’s report related to PTI’s accounts be provided to all the parties in the case.

On PTI’s request, the bench directed the Scrutiny Committees investigating the funding of PML-N and PPP to furnish progress reports into related probes within 10 days The case has been adjourned for 15 days.

PTI only political party to use legal system of funding: Fawad

Following the hearing, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry said that PTI is the only political party in the country that uses a legal and elaborate system of funding.

"PTI's workers across the world fund the party because they trust Prime Minister Imran Khan," Fawad said while addressing a press conference alongside Minister of State for Information Farrukh Habib.

"There is no question of foreign funding," the minister said, adding the accounts being scrutinised by the ECP are those of the party's subsidiaries, and not directly linked to the PTI."