The decision was made by a three-judge bench headed Chief Election Commissioner Sardar Mohammad Raza, who also directed the scrutiny committee to continue its work. He further ordered the PTI representatives to appear before the committee on October 14.
The case of PTI’s foreign funding was filed in 2014 by one of its founding members, Akbar Babar, who had alleged that $3 million in illegal foreign funds was collected through two offshore companies.
The money was allegedly transferred through illegal ‘hundi’ channels in the Middle East to accounts of ‘PTI employees’. Babar had further claimed that the funds were not revealed in the annual audit reports submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan.
A scrutiny committee was formed in March of 2018 in order to conduct an audit of PTI’s funding sources.
The ECP had earlier reserved its verdict on PTI’s applications requesting secrecy in its ‘foreign funding case’.
Babar, in his comments to media after the verdict, stated that the case would be brought to its logical end. He added that the case would reveal ‘true facts’ to the people and that there was no personal enmity between him and the prime minister.