ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) will take up on March 16 a petition challenging its scrutiny committee’s decision to keep PTI’s financial documents secret.

Informed sources told Dawn that notice had been issued to the complainant and petitioner of foreign funding case Akbar S. Babar to appear in person or through his counsel.

In his complaint filed on Feb 24 Akbar S. Babar had challenged the decision of the Scrutiny Committee to keep secret PTI’s financial documents including details of undeclared bank accounts.

It has been pointed out that the scrutiny panel’s decision was against the ECP order of May 30, 2018, in which it dismissed an application of the PTI to keep the scrutiny proceedings secret from the petitioner and held that the petitioner could participate in the scrutiny process because the record being scrutinised is “public” and its copies can be obtained by anyone.

The Scrutiny Committee claims that the documents cannot be shared with the petitioner as the respondent (PTI) objects to it.

Panel reviews plea for summoning account details of four paid PTI employees

The complaint says that access to PTI documents was a right of the petitioner “in light of Article 5(4) of the Political Parties Order, 2002 (the “PPO”) as well as Section 203(5) of the Election Act, 2017.”

The complaint challenges the secrecy order of the Scrutiny Committee terming it “illegal and unlawful as there is no provision of law, or any legal, equitable or judicious basis for keeping secret” as well as the dictates of Articles 4 and 10A of the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973.

On Wednesday the Scrutiny Committee also met to review the Akbar S. Babar’s application to requisition the accounts of four PTI employees who were authorised by six member PTI finance board in July 2011 to receive donations in their personalaccounts from Pakistan and abroad.

Sources reveal that the petitioner’s lawyer Syed Ahmad Hassan Shah assisted by Badar Iqbal Chaudhry urged the committee to seek the State Bank’s assistance in requisitioning the private bank accounts of four PTI employees authorized by six member PTI finance board in July 2011 to collect donations from Pakistan and abroad.

AkbarS. Babar also filed a separate application to summon the PTI Central Finance Secretary who had admitted on record that funds were transferred to private bank accounts of PTI employees through money changer from the UAE.

Syed Ahmad Hassan Shah informed the Committee that the PTI Central Finance Secretary has yet to disown his statement while the PTI lawyer in a written response before the Scrutiny Committee has disowned PTI Central Finance Secretary’s admission of receiving funds in PTI employees personal bank accounts. He said the matter is pending before the ECP for over six years without any investigation.

The PTI counsel Syed Khawar Shah strongly opposed seeking private accounts of PTI employees through SBP. He said PTI has committed no violation of law as all the donations received by PTI employees were duly deposited in authorised PTI accounts.

The committee adjourned hearing until March 18 once again without announcing a decision on whether or not it would requisition personal bank accounts of four PTI employees through the State Bank of Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2021