foreign funding case - Central News Hub

Imran faces arrest in foreign funding case

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) issued the second notice to Imran Khan on Friday.

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has decided to arrest former Prime Minister Imran Khan if he fails to appear before the investigation committee or respond to the notices concerning the prohibited funding case, according to sources.

The agency will get permission from a court of law to arrest Khan to get details of the party funds and accounts, The News reported.

“The final decision to arrest the PTI chief could be taken after issuing three notices,” the sources maintained.

The FIA issued the second notice to Khan on Friday.

The former premier received the first notice on August 10 but refused to appear before the FIA investigation team to provide details of the party funds and accounts, The News reported.

The sources disclosed that five more PTI companies had been traced which were not mentioned in the reports submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and FBR.

These companies are operating in the US, Australia, Canada, the UK and Belgium, they said, adding that the FIA had collected their audit reports, The News reported.

The FIA Banking Circle has repeatedly asked the PTI chief to provide details of the bank accounts but Khan, responding through his legal counsel, said he was neither answerable to the FIA nor could it compel him to provide any information, the sources said.

They added that the PTI chief had threatened the FIA with taking a legal action if the notice was not withdrawn within two days.

“The FIA committee has collected enough evidences to prove Imran guilty of hiding the factual position from the ECP,” the sources said, adding that the third and probably the final notice would be issued next week well before the end of August.

Pakistan’s FIA constitutes team to probe PTI funding case

Pakistan’s Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said that PTI used overall 16 bank accounts that were not found on the records, reports Asian Lite News

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) constituted a six-member team to probe into Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI’s) prohibited funding case.

This investigation came a few days after the three-member Election Commission of Pakistan bench in a unanimous verdict ruled that the PTI received prohibited funding in the case pending since 2014, ARY News reported.

Director Amna Baig will be leading the investigation team and four employees that were nominated in the ECP report were included in the initial investigation, according to sources.

The employees who recorded their initial testimonies to the FIA include Muhammad Rafique, Tahir Iqbal and Muhammad Arshad.

The concerned authorities have expanded the scope of the probe against PTI in the prohibited funding case. A five-member special monitoring team was formed by the intelligence agency.

The monitoring team will coordinate with the zonal inquiry team in Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi, Islamabad, Quetta and Faisalabad, reported ARY News.

On August 4, the Pakistan government decided to file a disqualification reference against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan after the verdict of the prohibited funding case and the federal cabinet accepted the recommendation.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan (Image: Twitter@ShkhRasheed)

Pakistan’s Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said in her press conference that the PTI used overall 16 bank accounts that were not found on the records. She alleged that PTI used donations to the charity as party funds and an inquiry will be conducted into it.

“For the first time in Pakistan, a political party is declared a foreign-funded party. The accounts of the PTI secretariat employees were used for foreign funding,” she added.

Aurangzeb said that PTI was declared a ‘foreign-funded party’ in light of the ECP verdict, according to ARY News.

On August 2, The ECP in its unanimous verdict on the “prohibited funding” case, on Tuesday, said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had received the prohibited funds and issued a show-cause notice to PTI.

The Commission found that the donations were taken from 34 countries in fundraising. These included America, Australia, and the UAE, Geo News reported.

The ECP also said that the PTI had taken funds from an American businessman.

In its verdict, the ECP observed the ‘unknown accounts’ and said that hiding accounts are a “violation of the Constitution”.

Maryam Aurangzeb

Moreover, it found that PTI Chairman Imran Khan submitted a false Nomination Form I.

The ECP decided to issue a show-cause notice to the PTI to explain why the commission should not seize the funds it received.

According to the publication, the ECP, Monday, released the cause list for the case. The cause list showed that the verdict would be announced by a three-member bench led by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, who arrived early in the morning at the office. (ANI)

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