ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court on Thursday announced its verdict in a high-profile case, rejecting a petition filed by former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party against the country’s election regulator, which released a report last year declaring Khan guilty of concealing financial information.
The case was originally filed by former PTI founding member Akbar S. Babar in 2014 who accused the top party leadership of receiving election funding from several prohibited international sources, including individuals and firms.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) looked into the issue and ruled last August that the PTI had “knowingly and willfully” received money from such entities and concealed at least 16 bank accounts in violation of the constitution. Subsequently, the commission issued a show-case notice to the PTI, directing it to explain its position.
Khan’s party challenged the ECP ruling at the Islamabad High Court (IHC) within a matter of days, seeking the annulment of the election regulator’s ruling. But on Thursday, the court rejected PTI’s petition against the ECP’s report.
“The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday dismissed Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) petition against the ruling of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) regarding the prohibited funding case,” Geo News reported.
The report added that the verdict, issued by a larger bench of the IHC comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, Justice Miangul Hassan, and Justice Babar Sattar, was announced verbally.
During the last hearing, the court had assured the party the amount would not be taken away from it if it provided satisfactory evidence that proved the legitimacy of its fund.
It may be recalled that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had described the ECP ruling against Khan’s party as a “chargesheet” against its “constitutional violation” before the government vowed to send a declaration to the Supreme Court to ban the PTI.
