A document listing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) employees who were authorised to receive party donations from within and outside Pakistan has emerged. It includes names of PTI’s telephone operator (Tahir Iqbal), computer operator (Muhammad Nauman Afzal), accountant (Mohammad Arshad) and PTI’s office helper (Mohammad Rafiq).
Dawn reported that decision to allow the PTI employees to collect the funds was taken at a meeting held back in July of 2011.
The central finance secretary and financial advisor of PTI, Siraj Ahmad, confirmed that a 'one-time' authorization had been granted to the four employees by the finance board of the party, but stated that the sum obtained from the United Arab Emirates through Western Union ultimately went to the party account in their private accounts.
“This was our internal letter for internal control over donation receipt from the UAE through Western Union. This was only one-time activity. The UAE laws do not allow transfer of funds directly to the party,” he said.
Siraj Ahmad said that the PTI account had all the money transferred from the UAE and this was verified by an independent audit performed by Ahsan and Ahsan. “The auditor reviewed the bank account of the approved persons correctly and was satisfied that all the sums transferred were eventually deposited in the account of the PTI," he said.
He further said the donation recording and management system was closely regulated and the entire process was directly supervised by the Finance Board. The amount received from UAE was revealed to be Rs2 million.
In the PTI foreign funding case, PTI's founding member and petitioner Akbar S. Babar alleged that donations were illegally collected via Hundi, particularly from the Middle East, in the front accounts of PTI employees, and redistributed off through cheques with no trace or record by the senior party leadership.
Dawn reported that decision to allow the PTI employees to collect the funds was taken at a meeting held back in July of 2011.
The central finance secretary and financial advisor of PTI, Siraj Ahmad, confirmed that a 'one-time' authorization had been granted to the four employees by the finance board of the party, but stated that the sum obtained from the United Arab Emirates through Western Union ultimately went to the party account in their private accounts.
“This was our internal letter for internal control over donation receipt from the UAE through Western Union. This was only one-time activity. The UAE laws do not allow transfer of funds directly to the party,” he said.
Siraj Ahmad said that the PTI account had all the money transferred from the UAE and this was verified by an independent audit performed by Ahsan and Ahsan. “The auditor reviewed the bank account of the approved persons correctly and was satisfied that all the sums transferred were eventually deposited in the account of the PTI," he said.
He further said the donation recording and management system was closely regulated and the entire process was directly supervised by the Finance Board. The amount received from UAE was revealed to be Rs2 million.
In the PTI foreign funding case, PTI's founding member and petitioner Akbar S. Babar alleged that donations were illegally collected via Hundi, particularly from the Middle East, in the front accounts of PTI employees, and redistributed off through cheques with no trace or record by the senior party leadership.