ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Wednesday ordered the scrutiny committee probing the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) sources of funding to continue its work after the commission rejected party’s plea to restrain the committee from doing so.
The PTI had earlier filed a complaint with the ECP challenging the terms of reference (ToRs) of the scrutiny committee which allowed the party’s accounts to be scrutinised in the presence of petitioner and dissenting PTI founding member Akbar S Babar. It had filed another complaint asking the ECP to keep the entire scrutiny process secret.
The ECP said that the committee would decide whether the scrutiny proceedings should be in-camera or not, and whether Babar will be privy to the committee’s proceedings or not.
A five-member bench of the ECP, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice (r) Sardar Mohammad Raza had established the scrutiny committee on March 27, which was headed by law director general and comprising two auditors from the defence establishment. The committee, however, commenced its scrutiny of PTI’s sources of funding on April 3 this year.
The committee could not, however, make any significant progress during the month as the PTI failed to submit financial documents, particularly bank statements of its accounts, sought by the committee, and also objected to the ToRs and the alleged breach of secrecy of the scrutiny process.
