ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday welcomed the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) scrutiny of PTI’s funding, which he said came through donations from overseas Pakistanis.
“The more our accounts are scrutinised, the more factual clarity will emerge for the nation to see how PTI is the only political party with proper donor base premised on proper political fundraising,” he tweeted.
His comments come a day after a damning report compiled by the scrutiny committee of the ECP noted that the ruling party had received funding from foreign nationals and companies, under-reported funds and concealed dozens of its bank accounts.
The report, a copy of which is available with Dawn, also mentioned a refusal by the party to divulge details of large transactions and the panel’s helplessness to get details of PTI’s foreign accounts and the funds collected abroad. In another tweet, the premier said he looked forward to seeing similar ECP scrutiny on funding of the other two major political parties, PPP and PML-N.
“This will allow the nation to see the difference between proper political fundraising and extortion of money from crony capitalists and vested interests in exchange for favours at the nation’s expense.”
‘Damning indictment’
Reacting to the scrutiny committee’s report, PML-N President and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif termed it a “damning indictment” of the prime minister.
“PTI has been running away from foreign funding case for last 7 years and now we know why. The facade of ‘Sadiq aur Ameen’ (honest and righteous) has been shredded into pieces,” he tweeted.
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