ISLAMABAD: The ongoing scrutiny of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) foreign funding by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) took a major turn on Wednesday when the PTI was asked to produce accounts and other financial details of funding from the US as a first step.

The scrutiny committee is mandated by the ECP to scrutinise all foreign funding accounts of the PTI for a five-year period from 2009 to 2013.

The scrutiny is taking place at the ECP in the presence of representatives of both sides by a committee chaired by the ECP DG Law and two financial experts co-opted from the defence establishment.

In Wednesday’s meeting, disgruntled PTI founding member Akbar S. Babar and his team of legal counsel led by Syed Ahmed Hasan represented the petitioner while the party was represented by its central finance secretary Sardar Azhar Tariq Khan and Saqlain Haider, PTI’s legal counsel.

The committee is meeting on a daily basis as is mandated to complete scrutiny of the accounts within one month since its inception on March 3 this year.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2018