ISLAMABAD: More undeclared bank accounts of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) have surfaced as the perusal of its financial documents continued for the second day on Tuesday, sources told Dawn.

The perusal process will end on Wednesday (today) as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had allowed only 40 hours for scrutiny of PTI accounts by two financial analysts nominated by petitioner Akbar S. Babar in the foreign funding case.

The sources said that as more secret PTI accounts had come to light, the petitioner — who is a disgruntled member of the party — demanded perusal of all original accounts requisitioned through the State Bank of Pakistan which have been kept secret by the ECP Scrutiny Committee.

While the perusal process will end on Wednesday, the ECP is yet to decide on the latest application of the petitioner seeking perusal of original PTI bank statements.

Petitioner seeks perusal of party’s original bank statements

Talking to reporters after the proceedings, the petitioner again questioned the logic of ECP Scrutiny Committee’s refusal to allow perusal of original PTI bank statements. He said those creating hurdles in the transparent probe of PTI accounts should realise that Pakistan’s politics could change overnight as it may turn many people into ‘approvers’ tomorrow.

Mr Babar said Imran Khan was once a champion of neutral umpires, but unfortunately in the foreign-funding case he had done everything in his power to fix the match by using documented delaying tactics.

Without referring to the case, he said in any heist the robbers always left a trail of evidence and it was for the investigators to reach a credible conclusion.

Mr Babar said he expected that the ECP would ensure all facts were before it before deciding the case because it could not come to a credible conclusion if incriminating facts remained hidden from it.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2021