|
Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency on Tuesday registered a case against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leaders including its chairman Imran Khan in the prohibited funding case.
The first information report (FIR) registered against the former prime minister has been lodged at the FIA's banking circle police station, Geo News reported. Apart from Imran Khan, Sardar Azhar Tariq, Tariq Shafi, and Younis Aamir Kiani have also been named in the FIR, the report added. In the FIR, the probe agency alleged that Abraaj Group, a capital market company had transferred USD 2100,000 to the PTI account in the branch of a bank situated at Jinnah Avenue in Islamabad. It is pertinent to mention that Abraaj Group is currently in liquidation due to accusations of fraud. In addition, the party received more financing from two bank accounts of Wotan Cricket Club, read the FIR. The probe agency said that the manager of the private bank also helped FIA in investigating the questionable transactions. According to Geo News, the FIA said that the affidavit submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan by businessman Arif Naqvi was also false. The FIR also mentioned the manager of the same bank branch had also been nominated in the case. It added that there were 12 currency transaction reports and suspicious transaction reports that had to be reported by the bank officials to the concerned authorities, but they failed to do so. The FIR came a day after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued a notice to the FIA in the prohibited funding case after Imran Khan's party asked the institution to stop the agency from the investigation. The FIA has time and again summoned PTI leaders for questioning, however, not all of them have shown up. On October 10, a district court in Lahore sent PTI leader Hamid Zaman on a 14-day judicial remand in the prohibited funding case. The FIA had registered a case against Zaman, a trustee of the Insaf Trust, over prohibited party funding. Earlier, On August 2, the Election Commission of Pakistan, in its unanimous verdict, ruled that the party received funds from 351 businesses including business tycoon Arif Naqvi and from 34 foreign nationals. The donations were sent from America, Australia, Canada, and the UAE. The ECP observed the 'unknown accounts' and said that hiding accounts are a "violation of the Constitution". The ECP bench in its reserved verdict said prohibited funding against PTI had been proven.A three-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja, comprising Nisar Ahmed Durrani and Shah Muhammad Jatoi announced the reserved verdict. Moreover, it found that PTI Chairman and former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan submitted a false Nomination Form I. The ECP decided to issue a show-cause notice to the PTI to explain why the commission should not seize the funds it received. Notably, Akbar S Babar, the man who blew the lid off the scam involving the inflow of dubious foreign funds into Imran Khan's political outfit Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) formally approached the FIA to initiate a probe against the PTI. Babar told the FIA that the PTI's financial board in 2011 illegally authorised four employees of the party's central secretariat to collect donations in their personal accounts from within Pakistan and abroad. (ANI)
|
