ECP declares Imran Khan’s party ‘willfully’ received prohibited funds

Islamabad (HRNW) The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has announced the verdict reserved in a prohibited funding case against the PTI.

A three-member ECP bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja announced the verdict on Tuesday.

In a unanimous decision, the bench declared that the PTI ‘knowingly and willfully’ received funding from prohibited sources, including foreign nationals.

The case pertains to the PTI’s funding before the year 2014, especially in 2013 when the results of general elections turned the PTI into a major political force in Parliament from a one-seat party.

The ECP bench in its ruling on Tuesday declared that funding from Wootton Cricket, owned by Abraaj Group founder Arif Naqvi, was from a prohibited source.

It declared that funding received from over 350 foreign companies and 34 foreign nationals — many of them of Indian origin — was also from prohibited sources. The funds were raised in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

The commission declared the funding received from Romitta Shetty from Singapore also comes under funding from prohibited sources.