\u00a0Following the recent arrests of PTI members in relation to the prohibited funding case, the party Saturday moved the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).
\nAccording to the petition\u2019s contents, PTI requested the court to stop the agency from making arrests and conducting raids. The development came after the FIA raided PTI leader Senator Saifullah Niazi\u2019s house and allegedly harassed him.
\nA day earlier, the FIA also arrested PTI’s founding member Hamid Zaman from his office in Lahore in the said case. When he was presented before a local court today, the FIA sought a 14-day physical remand to complete the investigation. However, the judicial magistrate granted a two-day remand to the agency.
\nThe petition also stated that the FIA is harassing party members on political grounds. It further deemed the FIA\u2019s inquiry and raids unlawful; therefore, the agency must be stopped from investigating the funding case.
\n“The impugned inquiry is beyond the jurisdiction as no wrongdoing bet alone \u2018illegality\u2019 is apparent on the face of the record, It has been initiated with mala fide intention, ln bad faith, out of personal motives to hurt the petitioners and harass the donors of the petitioner, and to support or benefit the political opponents of the petitioners,” the petition read.
\nPTI, in its application, stated that all donors of the party are “overseas Pakistanis” and their details have been submitted to the Election Commission of Pakistan in accordance with the law.
\nPTI\u2019s petition added that the party gathered funds for the anti-government movement. It stated that all the funds secured from abroad have been lawfully received.
\nThe secretary of the interior, the director-general of FIA, and the investigation officer have all been made parties to the case by the PTI.
\nIHC, upon PTI\u2019s request, has slated the petition to be heard by Justice Aamer Farooq on Monday, October 10.
\nPTI’s prohibited fundingOn August 22, 2022, the ECP, in a unanimous verdict, announced that the PTI received prohibited funding. The case was earlier referred to as the “foreign funding” case, but later the election commission accepted the PTI’s plea to refer to it as the “prohibited funding” case.
\nThe commission found that donations were taken from America, Australia, Canada and the UAE.
\nPTI received funds from 34 individuals and 351 businesses including companies, the ECP verdict stated.
\nThirteen unknown accounts also came to light, said the commission in the verdict, adding that hiding accounts are a “violation” of Article 17 of the Constitution.
\nThe funds were also in violation of Article 6 of the Political Parties Act.
\nMoreover, the ECP found that Khan submitted a false Nomination Form I and that the affidavit provided regarding party accounts was also not authentic.
\nFollowing ECP’s declaration, the FIA launched a formal countrywide investigation into the utilisation of funds from \u201cprohibited\u201d sources by the PTI.
\nA five-member monitoring team was constituted in this regard to supervise inquiries across Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar, Lahore and Quetta.
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