ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistani Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Saturday accused former Prime Minister Imran Khan of destroying the country’s economy and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in exchange for foreign funds.
This came days after Election Commission of Pakistan ruled that Khan’s political party received millions of dollars in illegal funds, which could lead to a ban on his Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
“A conspiracy project, launched by Imran Khan, was executed in the country through the foreign funds received by his party during different periods including 2008-13, 2013-18 and 2018-22,” the Express Tribune reported Marriyum as saying.
“Imran tried to weaken the parliamentary system and democracy in 2013 under the project which came into effect in 2008,” Marriyum added, alleging the PTI chief instigated his workers to attack the Supreme Court building and launch civil disobedience campaign bringing political instability in the country.
Holding Khan accountable for the country’s faltering economy, Marriyum asserted that he rendered the youth jobless and is responsible for the current crises, which were created to fulfil the commitments made with foreign funders, the Express Tribune reported.
“These were the milestones, delivery points and commitments which Imran made to his funders in exchange for the foreign funding,” she said, adding that the followers of the PTI chief would have to ask him where the funds were spent.
“Imran was miserably exposed before the nation after the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) verdict in the PTI prohibited funding case,” she said, as The Print reported.
According to the Express Tribune, the minister said Imran misled the nation by consistently telling lies over a case that was investigated by the ECP for eight years and remarked the funds were also received in the personal accounts of other PTI leaders including Asad Qaiser, Imran Ismail, Shah Farman, Saifullah Niazi and others.
The foreign funding case is pending since November 14, 2014, and it was filed by PTI founding member Akbar S Babar who had alleged that there are some financial irregularities in the PTI’s funding from Pakistan and abroad.
On January 4 this year, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s scrutiny committee submitted its report on the PTI’s foreign funding case after 95 hearings, according to the report.
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Earlier, Election Commission of Pakistan ruled that Ousted PM Imran Khan’s political party received millions of dollars in illegal funds, which could lead to a ban on his Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
According to CNN, the illegal funds were obtained from foreign countries, including the United States, the United Arab Emirates, the UK, and Australia.
Khan, who in April was ousted from power after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, was not immediately available for comment. A spokesman for the PTI party denied any wrongdoing.
The commission’s ruling is a major setback for the former cricket star who has been leading a campaign against the new government.
The case, filed in 2014 by Akbar S. Khan, a PTI founding member, accused the party of receiving illegal funds from abroad, as the CNN wrote.
“The commission is satisfied that the contributions and donations have been received by the respondent party from prohibited sources,” the ruling, which has been seen by Reuters, said.
The commission said the party also hid 13 accounts, adding that the declaration submitted to the commission about the party finances by Khan as its chairman from 2008 to 2013 were “found to be grossly inaccurate.”
In April, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted from power after losing a no-confidence vote in his leadership, where the opposition parties brought a motion against him for bad governance and economic mismanagement.
