ISLAMABAD: A scrutiny committee of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has refused to share the statements of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s 23 bank accounts with Akbar S. Babar, a founding member of the PTI who parted ways with it and filed a petition in November 2014, accusing the party of maintaining fake bank accounts abroad.

The scrutiny committee was formed in March 2018 to scrutinise the PTI’s bank accounts.

These accounts, including many allegedly undeclared accounts, had been revealed when some banks on the instructions of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) provided details of the accounts maintained by the PTI to the ECP in July 2018.

Sources said that the ECP scrutiny committee met for two consecutive days on Thursday and Friday where the petitioner’s lawyer, Syed Ahmad Hassan Shah, raised serious questions on the credibility of the scrutiny process.

The sources said the ECP committee refused to share statements of the PTI’s bank accounts with the petitioner.

The petitioner has consistently demanded access to 23 bank accounts to verify the accounts submitted by the PTI which the petitioner alleges are fake.

Mr Babar continues to plead that without reviewing the 23 PTI bank accounts as well as the party’s accounts maintained abroad, all concealed from the ECP, the scrutiny will have no credibility.

The sources reveal that the petitioner’s lawyer spoke at length on reservations regarding the scrutiny process. He is believed to have informed the committee that without scrutiny of the SBP authenticated documents, scrutiny of unverified accounts is mere eyewash.

The sources also said that the lawyer indicated his intention of submitting a detailed account on why the scrutiny process does not meet the parameters of the TOR (terms of reference) and the petitioner should not be expected to rubber-stamp the alleged fake documents.

Ten days remain before the August 17 scrutiny deadline set by the ECP for the committee to complete its scrutiny of the PTI accounts. However, little progress is expected when the committee meets again on Aug 13.

The petitioner was represented by his team of counsel that included Syed Ahmad Hassan Shan, Badar Iqbal Chaudhery and Dawood Ibrahim, whereas the PTI was represented by Syed Khawar Shah and the party’s finance team.

Talking to reporters, Mr Babar has stated that since November 2015 the PTI has continued to refuse to submit all their accounts before the ECP. He said why should a simple audit of accounts take over two years and yet remain inconclusive defies logic. He said he intends to pursue the case right to the end as the people of Pakistan deserve to know the truth.

Published in Dawn, August 9th, 2020