ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is considering approaching the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to seek the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) financial statements since the party has failed to produce the documents, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) was told on Friday, as the single-judge bench resumed hearing of the petition on PTI’s foreign funding. In the petition, the party has requested the court to declare null and void a scrutiny underway into its foreign funds by an ECP committee. During the hearing on Friday, the court observed that in the absence of any injunction or stay order against the ongoing scrutiny of PTI accounts, the ECP was free to proceed in the matter in accordance with the law. The documents submitted during court proceedings on Friday included directives issued by the ECP’s scrutiny committee since April 3. They showed that the PTI had failed to submit the required financial documents, including bank statements for the 2009-13 period. Subsequently, the committee passed an order stating that in case of non-compliance, it would resort to other means to collect data from relevant quarters so that scrutiny of funds received in the party’s bank accounts could proceed. The hearing was adjourned til July 10. This is the fourth petition filed by the PTI, seeking suspension of scrutiny of its foreign funds. Despite holding several meetings in the last three months, the ECP’s scrutiny committee has not made any headway because of the PTI’s failure to submit financial documents. Published in Daily Times, June 30th 2018.