Pakistan: ECP rules Imran Khan's PTI received prohibited funding

The case was earlier referred to as the "foreign funding" case, but later the election commission accepted the PTI's plea to refer to it as the "prohibited funding" case, Geo News reported.

The commission found that donations were taken from America, Australia, Canada and the UAE.

PTI received funds from 34 individuals and 351 businesses including companies, the ECP verdict states, the Pakistani news channel reported.

Thirteen unknown accounts have also come to light, said the commission in the verdict, adding that hiding accounts are a "violation" of Article 17 of the  Constitution.

In the written verdict, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, the commission noted that the party “knowingly and willfully” received funding from Wootton Cricket Limited, operated by business tycoon Arif Naqvi.

PTI’s Fawad Chaudhry later reacted to the development and said most of the money was from overseas Pakistanis.

“I don’t understand why the PML-N, the JUI and the PPP have declared overseas Pakistanis the enemy. We consider overseas Pakistanis to be the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and will continue to rely on them for our funding,” he was quoted as saying by Dawn News.