Who sent how much to Imran Khan’s PTI? There’s Indian-American banker, a cricket firm
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Who sent how much to Imran Khan’s PTI? There’s Indian-American banker, a cricket firm

The Pakistan Election Commission has revealed that the PTI got more than $7million in illegal foreign funds, much of it from opaque trusts in offshore tax havens.

   
File photo of PM Imran Khan | Facebook/ImranKhanOfficial

File photo of Imran Khan | Facebook/ImranKhanOfficial

New Delhi: Imran Khan cried foul over a foreign hand’s involvement in his removal as the prime minister earlier this year but now it’s the foreign funding that is haunting his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf. The Election Commission has determined that several foreign nationals made contributions to PTI, including Indian-American investment banker Romita Shetty, a graduate of St. Stephens College in New Delhi, who gave $13,750. The poll body in its verdict has declared such donations ‘prohibited’. PTI, that has had an acrimonious relation with the EC, has said it will challenge the verdict.

The EC verdict has revealed that the PTI received more than $7million in illegal foreign donations, much of it from opaque trusts in offshore tax havens, and Limited Liability Companies set up by supporters in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. The poll body delivered its findings Tuesday, after seven-year-long legal proceedings that it said were delayed by PTI’s manoeuvring. The EC has mentioned 34 donations as illegal.

Pakistani businessman Arif Khan’s UAE-based Wootton Cricket Limited also came under the scanner for sending $2,151,500. It’s a diverse pool of funders that the EC has found problems with.


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Who sent how much?

Among the highest individual donors is a purportedly Zurich-based “entity operating as” E-Planet Trustees which gave $100,000. However, E-Planet is a Private Company Trust seemingly based in the Cayman Islands, with such trusts prohibited from providing funds to political parties in Pakistan.

Another significant prohibited foreign donor, which PTI did not disclose, is the Dubai-based Bristol Engineering Services, owned by an individual named Majid Bashir, which sent nearly $50,000 to the party in 2013. “UAE laws do not allow a natural person and companies to engage in any type of fundraising activities…only allow registered charities with prior permission to raise funds only for charitable purposes,” the EC said.

Other known prohibited foreign donors mentioned in the EC judgment include Manchester-based SS Marketing, which sent $1,741 and Australia-based Dunpec, which sent $2,000. Several domestic firms like Anwar Brothers, Zain Cotton and Young Sports were also flagged by the EC.


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The 13 accounts

The Election Commission also detailed 13 bank accounts in Habib Bank Limited, Muslim Commercial Bank, Bank of Khyber, Bank of Punjab and the now-defunct KASB, which received nearly $1 million in prohibited funding. Transactions recorded are between 2008 and 2013, the EC said.

Although PTI has now “disowned” these accounts, they were found to be titled under PTI’s purview, be it PTI Punjab or PTI Federal Capital. They were also set up and operated by key PTI members and regional heads, such as PTI Sindh President Imran Ismael, PTI Khyber Pakhtunkhwa President Asad Qaiser and PTI Balochistan President Qasim Khan Suri.

Critically, two Habib Bank accounts were not declared by the party at all and belong to Imran Khan himself, showing transactions of $51,750 and over PKR 80 million, respectively.


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Limited liability companies

Another big sticking point revealed by the EC concerns the numerous Limited Liability Companies (LLCs) through which Imran Khan’s PTI received a large number of small-dollar donations from prohibited sources from Canada, the UK and the United States.

This includes receipts from “351 foreign-based companies” to a US-based American LLC, amounting to over $160,000, funds transferred from a “PTI Canada” LLC to PTI accounts in Pakistan in local currency, as well as nearly 800,000 pounds over a five-year period — 2008 to 2013 — to a UK-based LLC, which PTI did not fully disclose.

The EC mentioned repeatedly that consistent compliance not only with Pakistani law but also laws of the three foreign nations, was not met. “Pakistan is included in the [International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance’s list of 126 countries] which have imposed restrictions and prohibitions on donations to political parties by foreign nationals…PTI has formed companies in USA, UK and Canada for fundraising purposes,” the EC said.