ISLAMABAD: Perusal of accounts of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf by two financial analysts hired by the petitioner in foreign funding case against the party concluded on Wednesday, with the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) Scrutiny Committee firmly refusing to allow scrutiny of the PTI’s original bank statements despite repeated requests.

In all, the scrutiny of the PTI documents continued for a total of 55 hours. That’s because despite repeated requests by a founder member of the PTI and petitioner in the case, Akbar S. Babar, the ECP’s committee refused to allow the perusal of the original PTI bank statements requisitioned through the State Bank of Pakistan in July 2018.

The scrutiny of the PTI accounts began in March 2018 by a three-member Scrutiny Committee constituted by the ECP to complete the process in one month. However, the process could not be completed in over three years.

Sources revealed that not a single PTI bank statement, out of the six admitted bank accounts, was shared for perusal. Similarly, the Scrutiny Committee refused to investigate the bank accounts of four PTI central office employees who were authorised by the PTI Finance Board in July 2011 to receive donations from within Pakistan and abroad.

Details of funds received in the personal accounts of the four PTI employees were not shared for perusal.

The scrutiny of PTI documents was authorised by the ECP vide its order of April 14, 2021 after repeated applications for access to PTI accounts by petitioner Babar. In the said order, the ECP had also directed its Scrutiny Committee to finalise its findings by the end of May this year.

There is no word, however, on the status of the Scrutiny Committee’s report to be submitted to the ECP by the end of May, as directed by the ECP in its order.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2021