Imran Khan and other PTI politicians booked for receiving foreign funds

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was among the 11 politicians from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party who were booked on Tuesday for allegedly receiving prohibiting foreign funds.

According to the Dawn newspaper, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) report claimed that the politicians took money from Arif Masood Naqvi, the owner of the Wooton Cricket Limited.

In the case filed through the FIA’s Corporate Banking Circle in Islamabad, the police have also alleged that Naqvi transferred the funds to a bank account that was registered under the name of PTI.

“PTI submitted an affidavit of Arif Masood Naqvi before the Election Commission of Pakistan stating therein that all the amounts collected in the accounts of WCL were submitted into PTI’s account in Pakistan. This affidavit has been proved to be false/forged as two more transactions were also made from WCL to two different accounts in Pakistan in May 2013,” the FIR said according to PTI.

If the accusations are proven to be correct, the politicians and the party can be charged under the Foreign Exchange Act for being the “beneficiaries of suspicious bank accounts”. The case is made worse for Imran and other politicians by the fact that Naqvi is facing criminal charges in the United Kingdom.

“The purpose stated in the swift messages of the transactions is ‘agreed transfer’ to disguise the true nature, origin, location, movement, and ownership of these funds,” the complaint added.

Last month, the Election Commission of Pakistan has already accused PTI of taking foreign funds and said that they “knowingly and willfully” received funding from Wootton Cricket Limited.