The PTI foreign funding case is a case against the

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI; ur, , ) is a political party in Pakistan. It was founded in 1996 by Pakistani cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, who served as the country's prime minister from 2018 to 2022. The PTI is one of the thre ...

where it obtained funds from Sheikh

Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan ( ar, نهيان بن مبارك آل نهيان; born 1951) heads the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Social Development. Biography He is the son of Mubarak bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, grands ...

, overseas Pakistanis and their companies. One of those overseas Pakistanis being the well known Pakistani Businessman Arif Naqvi who according to the Wall Street Journal had also provided funds to

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi language, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime ...

and his colleagues. Islamabad High Court in its detailed judgement on 5 April 2023 pronounced not enough documentary evidence existed to implicate Imran Khan in the case.

Background

Akbar S. Babar, a former member of PTI had filed a petition in the

Election Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

in 2014 against irregularities in party funds, on which the ECP's scrutiny committee held 96 hearings in the court. Babar had alleged that millions of dollars had been transferred to PTI bank accounts through two offshore companies and that the PTI had kept these bank accounts secret from the Election Commission.

Election Commission Scrutiny Committee report

According to the 225-page report of the scrutiny committee set up by the

Election Commission of Pakistan The Election Commission of Pakistan ( ur, ; ECP) is an independent, autonomous, permanent and constitutionally established federal body responsible for organizing and conducting elections to the national parliament, provincial legislatures, l ...

(PTI) disclosed 12 bank accounts in the Election Commission while keeping 53 accounts hidden. Besides, donations of more than Rs 31 crore have not been disclosed to the Election Commission. The PTI has shown only 12 bank accounts out of 77, while

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

accounts have not been accessed. The report states that in 2008 and 2009, 2012 and 2013, the

PTI PTI may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Pardon the Interruption'', an American television sports show * PTI, a musical group on the WTII Records label Organizations * Pacific Torah Institute, a yeshiva high school in Vancouver, British Columb ...

made donations of Rs 1.33 billion to the

. The ECP was allegedly given incorrect information regarding the donations as the

State Bank of Pakistan The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) ( ur, ) is the Central Bank of Pakistan. Its Constitution, as originally laid down in the State Bank of Pakistan Order 1948, remained basically unchanged until 1 January 1974, when the bank was Nationalized and ...

statement showed that PTI received donations of Rs 1.64 billion out of which Rs 31 crore were concealed.

Verdict

On 2 August, 2022, the

said in its decision that the allegations of taking prohibited funds from overseas Pakistanis against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party of former Prime Minister

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi ( ur}; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former Cricket captain who served as the 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan from August 2018 to until April 2022, when he was ousted through a no-confidenc ...

have been proved. The Election Commission has issued a show-cause notice to PTI as to why these funds should not be confiscated and at the same time has announced to send the matter to the federal government. Tehreek-e-Insaf has announced to challenge this decision in court.

Criticism

reacted to the judgement by saying that the funds were collected in 2012 by overseas Pakistanis and said that the law which prohibits funding was made in 2017 and that there is no law which bans funding from overseas Pakistanis. Following the judgement, an overseas Pakistani Beenish Faridi who donated to the

, took the

to court for declaring her a non-Pakistani and her funding as foreign.

References

{{Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf 2021 in Pakistani politics 2022 in Pakistani politics