The report of a scrutiny committee the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) probing the ruling PTI’s funds revealed on Tuesday that the party did not disclose funding worth more than Rs310 million to the ECP.
Media reports said that the State Bank of Pakistan’s bank statement revealed that the party had received Rs1.64 billion in funding. According to the report, the party did not disclose funding worth more than Rs310 million to the electoral body.
The scrutiny committee was formed in 2019 to audit foreign funding received by the PTI. The case began in 2014 when the party’s disgruntled member, Akbar S Babar, filed it.
The report provides the details provided by the PTI to the ECP. According to data provided to the committee by the SBP, PTI has 26 bank accounts.
From 2008 to 2013, the PTI disclosed funds worth Rs1.33 billion to the ECP, whereas a report by the SBP shows the actual amount to be Rs1.64 billion, the report said. The ruling party did not disclose details of three banks in documentation provided to the ECP, it added. It stated that around 1,414 companies in Pakistan, 47 foreign companies and 119 potential companies provided funds to PTI.
The ruling PTI received $2.3448 million in funding from the US, but the scrutiny committee couldn’t obtain access to the party’s US bank accounts, the report said. Of those to have contributed these funds were 4,755 Pakistanis, 41 non-Pakistanis and 230 foreign companies. Besides the US, the PTI obtained funds from Dubai, UK, Europe, Denmark, Japan, Canada, Australia and several other countries.
A private bank provided details to SBP regarding $2.2 million funds being received by the PTI from Dubai, however, the scrutiny committee couldn’t get further details. It was also unable to obtain information related to the funds received from the UK and Europe.
Due to a lack of information, the committee’s report said that it cannot comment on the source of the funding from any of the countries. The firm that audited the PTI’s accounts based their reports on the same information for five years, the report noted, adding that the PTI changed the firm in the last year but the report’s contents remained the same.
The committee sent the PTI a questionnaire on the funding received from the US and other countries but obtained no clear response, it added.
