As an FIA probe into economic crimes of the former prime minister fans out across the provinces, the ECP is said to be ready to summon him for contempt of court after Ashura.
By Naveed Naqvi
ISLAMABAD: With the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) all set to summon former Prime Minister Imran Khan for contempt, a probe by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) into his alleged financial wrongdong is fanning out across Pakistan, Independent Pakistan can report.
The top civilian intelligence outfit has appointed a separate enquiry team in each of its seven operational zones covering all provinces of the country to look into alleged financial crimes by Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, well-placed sources told Independent Pakistan.
In addition, the FIA has set up a 5-member special monitoring team at its Islamabad headquarters, headed by the agency’s Director Training Dr Athar Waheed, to supervise the zonal enquiry teams.
The move comes in pursuance of the orders of the ECP after it found Khan and his party guilty of amassing prohibited funding in the so-called prohibited funding case, brought by the party’s former vice president Akbar Sher Babar under the Article 6 of the Political Parties Order, 2002.
In Pakistan, political parties are prohibited from receiving funding from corporations whether local or foreing. In addition, they are not allowed to accept funding from foreign nationals. The ECP found PTI guilty of deliberately violating both these restrictions.
In addition, it caught the party hiding the funds reaised through prohibited means by concealing a number of bankc accounts. It is still not clear how the party spent those funds, which is why the nationwide FIA probe is being undertaken.
The 7 operational zones of the FIA are Islamabad Zone, based out of Islamabad; Punjab Zone-I, based out of Lahore; Punjab Zone-II, based out of Faisalabad; KPK Zone, based out of Peshawar; Sindh Zone-I and Sindh Zone-II, both based out of Karachi; and Balochistan Zone, based out of Quetta.
Separately, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is said to be ready to serve a notice for contempt of court on the former prime minister over the baseless allegations he hurled at the Chief Election Commissioner in his various speeches.
The ECP had earlier summoned records of his offending speeches from Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA). According to the sources close to the development, the Commission has completed its review of Khan’s speeches, and will issue him a notice for contempt of court after the Ashura.
The sources said that the Commission will require Khan to explain why he made those allegations and how he can substantiate them.
Meanwhile, back at the FIA’s Islamabad zone, a six-member investigation team headed by Deputy Director Amina Baig has formally started its investigation. In the preliminary investigation, the team summoned 4 employees named in the ECP order.
Muhammad Rafiq, Tahir Iqbal and Muhammad Arshad were interrogated, all three employees recorded their initial statements. They include Imran Khan’s personal secretary and the party’s general manager finance.
The employees summoned were unanimous in claiming they had no knowledge as to who used to send the funding, and from where. They said money in the accounts was paid in cash or by check to the party’s finance manager, Tahir Iqbal.
The FIA team is said to have ascertained that foreign funding continued to flow into the salary account of employees among other accounts.
Muhammad Rafiq told the team he did not know where the money was spent. He also claimed he had been ordered to sign every leaf the chequebook and hand it over to PTI Finance Department.
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