IHC to hear PTI’s appeal in prohibited funding case on Dec 20

Islamabad High Court Thursday while accepting a plea of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for an early hearing in prohibited funding case fixed the hearing for December 20, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The PTI had requested the court an early hearing against Election Commission's decision in the prohibited funding case.

Accepting the plea, the IHC has formed a three-member larger bench headed by Chief Justice Amir Farooq to conduct the hearing on December 20.

Justice Mian Gul Hasan Aurangzeb and Justice Babar Sattar are other judges included in the larger bench.

On August 2, the ECP in a unanimous verdict, said it has found that the PTI received prohibited funding. The case was earlier referred to as the "foreign funding" case, but later the election commission accepted the PTI's plea to refer to it as the "prohibited funding" case.

The commission found that donations were taken from America, Australia, Canada and the UAE. PTI received funds from 34 individuals and 351 businesses including companies, the ECP verdict states.

Thirteen unknown accounts have also come to light, said the commission in the verdict, adding that hiding accounts are a "violation" of Article 17 of the Constitution.

The funds were also in violation of Article 6 of the Political Parties Act.

Moreover, the ECP found that PTI Chairman Imran Khan submitted a false Nomination Form I and that the affidavit provided regarding party accounts was false.

The ECP has issued a show-cause notice to PTI to explain why their prohibited funds should not be confiscated. The election commission office should also start the rest of the process according to the law, the ECP ruled.