The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) concealed funds worth millions of rupees from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), a report of a scrutiny committee probing the party’s funds revealed on Tuesday.
The report stated that the PTI gave “false information” regarding the party’s funding to the ECP.
It said that 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 ECP.
The scrutiny committee was formed in 2019 to audit foreign funding received by the PTI. The case began in 2014 when the party’s founding member, Akbar S Babar, filed it.
Babar alleged that the PTI received funding from illegal sources and that the party was also involved in money laundering.
THE REVEALATION: The report lays bare the contradictions in detail provided by the PTI to the ECP and actual figures.
According to data provided to the committee by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), PTI has 26 bank accounts.
From 2008 to 2013, PTI disclosed funds worth Rs1.33 billion to the ECP, whereas a report by the SBP shows the actual amount to be Rs1.64bn, the report said.
PTI did not disclose details of three bank accounts in documentation provided to the ECP, it added.
It stated that around 1,414 companies in Pakistan, 47 foreign companies and 119 potential companies donated to the PTI.
The 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 received 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 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 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 last year, but the report’s contents remained the same.
The report said that the committee arrived at the conclusion that there is a contradiction in the audit reports and the PTI’s bank statements.
The committee sent the PTI a questionnaire on the funding received from the US and other countries but obtained no clear response, it added.
