Ex-PTI leader says was ‘offered Senate chairmanship to drop foreign funding case’

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founding member Akbar S Babar, who also filed a case against the PTI over illegal funding in 2014, claimed that a friend of Prime Minister Imran Khan offered him the Senate chairmanship if he agrees to withdraw the foreign funding case against the PTI.

“A friend of Imran Khan offered me the post of chairman Senate,” he said, adding that he had “rejected all offers since I am on a noble purpose”.

According to the former PTI leader, he had been threatened and cases had been filed against him for pursuing his case against the party over illegal funding.

Meanwhile, the PTI has termed the allegations of Babar as baseless. In a statement, the PTI said that Babar was not offered any kind of position by the PTI. “He is blackmailing the party for the last eight years and no leader of the PTI has contacted him nor made any such offer. It is an attempt by him to raise his political stature.”

FOREIGN FUNDING CASE:

Meanwhile, the PTI has disowned the statement of its central finance secretary wherein he claimed that the funds from the United Arab Emirates were transferred to the accounts of four of its paid employees.

Last week, a document submitted to the ECP revealed that the PTI employees were authorised to receive donations from within and outside Pakistan. The document, quoted by Dawn, had revealed the names of employees that included PTI’s telephone operator Tahir Iqbal, computer operator Muhammad Nauman Afzal, accountant Mohammad Arshad and office helper Mohammad Rafiq.

Subsequently, an application was filed by Akbar S Babar, demanding all the personal front accounts of four PTI employees be requisitioned from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to ascertain the scope of the illegal fundraising.

However, in a response filed before the ECP’s Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, the PTI stated the “respondent does not own such statement made by any of the office-bearers of PTI”.

This is not the first time that the PTI has disowned a statement. Earlier, its counsel in the ECP had rejected Prime Minister Imran Khan’s statement wherein the premier agreed to the open hearing of the foreign funding case.