ECP special committee drafts ToRs to probe PTI foreign funding

A special committee constituted by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Friday formulated the terms of reference (ToRs) to guide the probe of alleged foreign funding received by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI).

According to the ToRs, the special committee will scrutinise the PTI’s financial statements and other accounting records for the five-year period between 2009 and 2013 with the aim of finding out any defects and omissions in the disclosure of funds received from abroad.

The committee has been given a period of 30 days from its creation to complete the scrutiny process and submit its report to the ECP.

On March 12, ECP’s five-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Raza had ordered the formation of the special committee in the foreign funding case.

The decision was taken three years after the foreign funding case was first filed, in November 2014, by a founding member of the PTI, Akbar S. Babar.

Babar had claimed that the constitution of the committee is a major step in holding PTI and its leadership accountable.

“I hope that after the full disclosure of the massive corruption, all those responsible for managing PTI accounts, including its chairman and members of its finance committee, will be banned for life from holding office in any political party in Pakistan,” Babar had said.