Imran Khan's party may face forfeiture of funds over foreign funding issue: Report

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's party may face forfeiture of funds over Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) scrutiny committee's recent disclosure of donations from foreign companies and the country's nationals, a media report said.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's party may face forfeiture of funds over Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) scrutiny committee's recent disclosure of donations from foreign companies and the country's nationals, a media report said. A report of the scrutiny committee over the PTI's foreign funding suggests that confiscation of contributions and donations could be made, reported Dawn.

"If the ECP comes to the conclusion that a case falls within the mischief of Article 6(3) of the Political Parties Order (PPO), the penalty provided is confiscation of such contributions and donations... it cannot impose a ban on the political party [as that] action is restricted to only foreign-aided political parties to be decided by the proper forum," Dawn said citing the report. The report cites relevant judgments of the Supreme Court in the Hanif Abbasi and Benazir Bhutto cases.

It was very clear from the unambiguous language of the provisions of the Political Parties Order (PPO) and the rules that the forum and penalty provided to determine whether contributions or donations are received from prohibited sources are different from the forum and penalty provided to determine whether a political party is a foreign aided political party, said the report. In recent days, the Imran Khan government has been targeted by the opposition parties over the foreign funding issue.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday directed his party workers to not let Imran Khan off the hook after the report of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) scrutiny committee revealed that PTI has hidden foreign funding worth millions of rupees. "Do not let (prime minister) Imran Khan off the hook as he has been caught red-handed while stealing money through the party's foreign funding. His so-called honest image has completely been shattered and he should be exposed before the nation," Nawaz said during a party meeting attending virtually on Saturday. (ANI)

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