—Turns down request to keep report secret
— Report revealed huge irregularities
—Party concealed dozens of its bank accounts
Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday rejected an appeal to keep the contents of a scrutiny committee’s report in the foreign funding case against the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) secret.
The report suggested the party received funding from foreign donors and companies, under-reported sums it received and concealed dozens of its bank accounts.
Later, it emerged that the report did not include eight volumes of the documents and bank statements requisitioned through the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
The crucial pieces of evidence were kept confidential at the committee’s own request. “The committee is of the considered opinion that the portions of the report which have been prepared on the basis of [PTI] bank statements obtained through the SBP may be kept confidential and classified and may not be released in the public domain,” it said.
But, during the proceedings, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja directed expressed shock over such a request and observed the report has already become a public document.
He further ordered the scrutiny committee formed for investigating foreign funding cases of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to submit its findings in 10 days.
