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In the foreign funding case against Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), the party's counsel claimed that the citizens with dual nationality were permitted under the law to fund political parties, local media reported.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja conducted the hearing, Dawn newspaper reported. During the hearing, PTI's counsel Anwar Mansoor claimed that the documents provided by the Election Commission of Pakistan's (ECP) scrutiny committee to petitioner Akbar S. Babar were not bona fide. He said, "The documents provided by the ECP's scrutiny committee to petitioner Akbar S. Babar were not bona fide," adding that the petitioner Babar spoke out of the context on the matter during his interactions with the media, Dawn reported. PTI's counsel said that ECP was not fully functional as it was operating without its two members, who retired in 2019, reported Dawn. He further said that the ECP was not entitled to issue orders on any matter until they are fully functional. Mansoor mentioned Article 218 of Pakistan's Constitution, which stipulates the formation of a "permanent election commission consisting of a chairman and four members, one from each province", as reported by Dawn. He also informed the bench that he would complete his arguments regarding the case in three days and told that he had already informed ECP about his unavailability from April 20. After hearing the arguments, the ECP adjourned the hearing till next week and also said that it will hold the proceedings for three consecutive days in the coming week. Earlier, on April 14, Islamabad High Court Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani rejected the request to prevent giving access to case records to PTI's Babar and a request to remove him from the foreign funding case proceedings. The foreign funding case is pending since November 14, 2014, and it was filed by PTI founding member Akbar S Babar who had alleged that there are some financial irregularities in the PTI's funding from Pakistan and abroad. On January 4 this year, the ECP's scrutiny committee submitted its report on the PTI's foreign funding case after 95 hearings. The ECP's committee was formed in March 2018. The report was based on eight volumes of records collected through the State Bank of Pakistan, proved that the PTI leaders had committed the violations of funding laws by allowing the collection of millions of dollars and billions of Pakistani Rupees without any source and details from foreigners, as per reported by Dawn. (ANI)
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