The choice may result in a ban on Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) celebration, which rose to prominence on an anti-corruption drive.
Khan, who analysts say had fallen out with navy powers over the appointment of a spy chief within the run as much as his ouster earlier this 12 months, was not instantly accessible for remark. A spokesman for the PTI celebration denied any wrongdoing.
The fee’s ruling is a serious setback for the previous cricket star who has been main a marketing campaign towards the brand new authorities.
The case, filed in 2014 by Akbar S. Khan, a PTI founding member, accused the celebration of receiving unlawful funds from overseas.
“The fee is glad that the contributions and donations have been acquired by the respondent celebration from prohibited sources,” the ruling, which has been seen by Reuters, stated.
The fee stated the celebration additionally hid 13 accounts, including that the declaration submitted to the fee concerning the celebration funds by Khan as its chairman from 2008 to 2013 have been “discovered to be grossly inaccurate.”
It stated the PTI acquired funds from totally different individuals and firms overseas, together with enterprise tycoon Arif Naqvi, proprietor of a Dubai-based fairness group, who’s amongst a number of individuals charged by U.S. prosecutors with being a part of a global scheme to defraud traders, together with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Naqvi has denied the costs.
The fee stated the celebration was “keen recipient of prohibited cash” amounting to $2.1 million from Naqvi’s Wootton Cricket Limited, which is registered within the Cayman Islands.
It additionally recognized a number of different overseas accounts within the United States, Britain, Australia, UAE, Canada, Switzerland and different nations, which made transaction to Khan’s celebration accounts.
The election fee ruling has been referred to the Pakistan authorities, which may search a Supreme Court ban on Khan and his celebration from politics, in response to authorized specialists. The court docket ordered the fee in 2017 to scrutinise the celebration’s accounts.
“We will problem this ruling,” Khan’s celebration spokesman, Fawad Chaudhry, informed reporters. He stated the funds have been acquired from Pakistani nationals dwelling abroad, which isn’t unlawful.
Khan was prime minister from 2018 till April this 12 months when he was compelled to step down after shedding a confidence vote which he alleged was the results of a US conspiracy. The United States denied that.
Since then, he has been rallying his supporters to press his demand for a brand new election. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has rejected that demand.
“It is a transparent case of fraud,” stated Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, chief of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League celebration.