Paramilitary soldiers stand guard outside the Pakistan's election commission building in Islamabad. — AFP/File
ISLAMABAD: The PTI on Tuesday sought two weeks' time from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to respond to notices received in the prohibited funding case, a request that was accepted.
A four-member bench, headed by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, held a hearing on a notice served to PTI chairman Imran Khan in the case.
Owing to his schedule, PTI’s lawyer Shah Khawar did not appear at the hearing. However, the party’s assistant lawyer Naveed Anjum represented the party in the hearing.
He said that there are several documents in the case which he has to gather which requires time. The lawyer then sought two weeks from the commission to submit a detailed response to the notice.
In response to the request, the CEC asked PTI’s lawyer why he has to collect the documents when he already possesses them, as he had been part of the entire process.
Anjum responded by saying that the party is collecting documents from foreign chapters.
The hearing of the case was adjourned till September 6, after PTI’s request for extra time was approved by the commission.
ISLAMABAD: A larger bench of Islamabad High Court (IHC) will hear the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) plea today against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) verdict in the prohibited funding case, ARY News reported on Thursday.
According to details, the larger bench – which will be headed by IHC Acting Chief Justice Aamir Farooq – includes Justice Mian Gul Hassan Aurangzeb and Justice Babar Sattar.
The larger bench will hear the PTI’s petition against the ECP verdict at 2 pm.
In the last hearing, the Islamabad High Court had decided to form a larger bench to hear the PTI’s plea against the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) judgement in the prohibited funding case.
PTI’s lawyer Anwar Mansoor argued that the accounts’ information, which were provided, was not included in the electoral watchdog’s verdict. “We had told ECP that some accounts’ information was not necessary due to some reasons,” he added.
“A larger bench will take up the matter,” Justice Farooq remarked. Subsequently, the court fixed the matter before a larger bench and adjourned the hearing for August 18.
The ECP bench in its reserved verdict said prohibited funding against PTI had been proven.
ECP, in its unanimous verdict, ruled that the party received funds from business tycoon Arif Naqvi and from 34 foreign nationals.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja, comprising Nisar Ahmed Durrani and Shah Muhammad Jatoi announced the reserved verdict.
ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday announced the much-awaited verdict in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) ‘prohibited’ funding case tomorrow (Tuesday), ARY News reported.
The ECP bench in its reserved verdict said prohibited funding against PTI has been proven.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja, comprising Nisar Ahmed Durrani and Shah Muhammad Jatoi announced the reserved verdict.
The ECP in its verdict said PTI received funding from 34 foreign nations and the details of 13 accounts were not disclosed.
The ECP also declared the statement on oath of former prime minister Imran Khan as ‘wrong’ and issued show cause notice to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.
The case was filed by PTI founding member Akbar S. Babar and was pending since November 14, 2014. Babar had alleged serious financial irregularities in the party’s funding from Pakistan and abroad.
The development comes days after the ruling alliance, comprising members of the Pakistan Democratic Movement, PPP, and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan, urged ECP to release the verdict in the case.
PTI foreign funding case
The Election Commission of Pakistan had reserved its verdict after the conclusion of arguments from both sides of the case on June 21.
It is noteworthy that PTI foreign funding is being heard by the election commission since November 2014.
PTI founding member and former information secretary Akbar S Babar had filed the case in the ECP in November 2014, alleging financial irregularities in PTI’s foreign funding and that it received funds from prohibited sources.
The PTI has rejected the charges as baseless and unfounded.
