Govt, PTI trade barbs over foreign funding case

The government and opposition are trading barbs over the PTI foreign funding case the decision of which is pending with the Election Commission of Pakistan with PML-N clamouring to announce the verdict to expose chicanery of Imran Khan and the PTI claiming that the Nawaz League is still avoiding to submit its record, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

A government delegation comprising Pakistan Democratic Alliance and Pakistan Peoples Party called on the Chief Election Commissioner and all four provincial election commissioners demanding announcement of the reserved verdict in PTI foreign funding case. 

This was informed by former prime minister and PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi while talking to media on Friday. 

Abbasi said that people should know the source of money on which the PTI was doing politics. If the PTI’s hands are clean, why didn’t it tell beforehand, the PML-N leader asked adding that the PTI itself confessed that it did not know about some accounts and that which foreign companies were behind the funding. 

Abbasi pointed out that no political party was entitled to receive funds from foreign companies. He was of the view that if a political party received funding from abroad, it should declare the details of its funding. “Time will tell who is behind these foreign companies. When you receive funding from these companies, you will become their agent,” Abbasi stated adding that the PTI was trying hard to suppress this case. 

He alleged that the PTI used every tactic to stop the ECP from announcing the verdict and Imran Khan used foul language against the commission to deter it from pronouncing its judgement. But, he said, facts could not be changed. 

However, Abbasi lamented that the PTI foreign funding case had been pending with the ECP for the last eight years and demanded announcement of the reserved verdict.

On the other hand, PTI leader Farrukh Habib said the PML-N had not even submitted its financial transaction record to the ECP yet. He alleged that the party did not disclose the details of Rs360 million accounts. 

Mr Habib was of the view that the election commission had declared that it was not a foreign funding case, rather it was a prohibited funding case. 

On a recent report by the UK media which claimed that PTI received funds from Pakistani businessman Arif Naqvi who is founder of Abraaj Group and facing corruption charges in the United States, Habib said that Arif Naqvi was not a Pakistani. He said that he made a company worth billions of dollars and raised funds in Dubai. Arif Naqvi sent money through cricket club. He said that funding from abroad came through baking channels. 

Also Read: Strange case of the cricket match that helped fund Imran Khan’s political rise

As the country awaits the verdict reserved by the Election Commission of Pakistan into the PTI's prohibited funding, an expose by the Financial Times has blown the lid off Pakistani tycoon Arif Naqvi's involvement in the party's finances and how a significant portion of its funding in 2013 was of foreign origin.

According to the report, "Naqvi transferred three instalments directly to the PTI in 2013, adding up to a total of $2.12 million".

Fawad denounces allegations 

Reacting to Financial Times report, another PTI leader Fawad Ch tweeted: “I urge Pakistani media to at least not portray their people as villains because America has made a case. The Abraaj Company of Arif Naqvi had become a $14 billion company and whenever a Muslim especially some Pakistani got influence, the Israeli lobby does not like it. “

پاکستانی میڈیا خصوصاً جیو کو کہتا ہوں کم از کم اپنے لوگوں کو اس لئے ولن بنا کر پیش نہ کریں کہ امریکہ نے کیس کردیا ہے، عارف نقوی کی ابراج چودہ بلین ڈالر کی کمپنی بن چکی تھی جب بھی کوئ مسلمان خصوصاً پاکستانی مسلمان کا اثر و نفوذ ایک حد سے اوپر جاتا ہے اسائیلی لابی کو پسند نہیں آتا

— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) July 29, 2022

“What is the case against Arif Naqvi by the USA. The case is, you violated the US financial laws. BCCI was closed by making such allegations. The question is why should we become part of a propaganda when we know that the Israeli lobby is behind this.”