ECP summons Imran Khan on August 23 in prohibited funding case

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has issued two notices to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan while summoning him on August 23 in the prohibited funding case.

One of the notices pertains to the prohibited funding case, the verdict of which was announced on August 2. The other notice is related to Imran Khan’s disqualification, the hearing of which will be on August 18.

The notices were issued on the ECP’s website, and stated that in terms of Rule 6 of Political Parties Rule 2006, and the judgement of August 2, PTI Chairman Imran Khan was to appear on August 23 at 10:00am.

Earlier this week, the ECP had ruled in a unanimous verdict that the PTI had received prohibited funding. The ruling was issued by the electoral watchdog’s bench led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja. The case was filed by one of the party’s founding members, Akbar Babar, and had been in the pipeline since November of 2014.

The electoral commission had stated in its verdict that the party “knowingly and willfully” received funds from a company called Wootton Cricket Limited, which was operated by business tycoon Arif Naqvi. The verdict held the party responsible of being a “willing recipient” of prohibited money amounting to $2,121,500.

In its verdict, the ECP invoked Article 6(3) of Political Parties Order 2002 (PPO), saying that notices may be issued to the party as to why its funds should not be confiscated.

The said article of the PPO states that any “indirect or direct contribution, by any foreign government, multinational or domestically incorporated public or private company, firm, trade or professional association shall be prohibited and the parties may accept contributions and donations only from individuals”.

The verdict also said that Imran Khan had for five successive years submitted Form-I and signed a certificate which indicated inconsistency with the accounting information available to it.

It called the PTI’s submissions “grossly inaccurate and wrong” and during its scrutiny, the party continued to “conceal and withhold complete and full disclosure” of the source of its funding.

In a separate instance, the ECP also admitted for hearing a reference filed by a group of lawmakers of the Pakistan Democratic Movement that called for the disqualification of Imran Khan from public office.

The hearing for that reference has been fixed for August 18.

The reference was filed on Thursday by Member of National Assembly Mohsin Nawaz Ranjha and carried the signatures of legislators Agha Hassan Baloch, Ali Gohar Khan, Salahudeen Ayubi, Saad Waseem Sheikh and Syed Rafiullah Agha.