Pakistan has many laws concerning disclosures of assets and liabilities by the government servants, holders of public offices, elected members of assemblies and persons desirous of contesting elections.
A government official faces inquiry under the Efficiency and Disciplinary Rules, 1973 if charges mentioned in Rule 3 - these include corruption, financial irregularities or living beyond known means - are made against him. Once an inquiry is ordered, the inquiry officer can look into his/her annual declarations.
Many civil servants faced criminal proceedings under the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999 - see the list of beneficiaries under the National Reconciliation Ordinance, 2007, declared void ab initio by the Supreme Court. Military hierarchy and judges of the higher courts claim to have a "fool-proof internal system" for checking the declarations of assets and liabilities. Rarely anybody is prosecuted for corruption in these institutions, giving the impression that financial integrity is not an issue with these powerful segments of society.
As far as the general public is concerned, the assets owned by generals, judges and high-ranking civil servants remain secret. This is not the case with elected representatives, their assets are to notified by the Election Commission of Pakistan every year.
The political parties and politicians in Pakistan are subjected to various laws that require them to file annual accounts and declarations of assets and liabilities. Rule 4 of the Political Parties Rules, 2002 requires that "every political party shall maintain its accounts in the manner set-out in Form-I indicating its income and expenditure, sources of funds, assets and liabilities and shall, within sixty days from the close of each financial year (July-June), submit to the Election Commission a consolidated statement of accounts of the party audited by a Chartered Accountant, accompanied by a certificate, duly signed by the Party Leader to the effect that no funds from any source prohibited under the Order were received by the party and that the statement contains an accurate financial position of the party".
It is painful to note that none of the political parties have displayed accounts submitted under Rule 4 of the Political Parties Rules, 2002 on its website. It is the duty of the Election Commission of Pakistan to enforce strict compliance of this rule and the moral obligation - if not statutory - of all the political parties to publish the same in newspapers or post at websites so that party workers, donors and voters know about their financial matters.
Section 42A of the Representation of People Act, 1976 and section 25A of the Senate (Election) Act, 1975 make it mandatory for the elected representatives to file in the prescribed manner details of their assets and liabilities on the closing date of each financial year, failure to fulfil this obligation leads to disqualification. Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) has published a comprehensive report about these legal provisions and their compliance (http://www.transparency.org.pk/jlc/mna/report_2010.pdf). It is sad to note that there are gross violations of these laws by elected members. The Election Commission, through a notification on October 21, 2011 suspended as many as 222 lawmakers for failing to submit details of their assets till the submission of statements of assets and liabilities.
Section 116 of Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 also requires filing of wealth statements and declarations of personal expenses in the prescribed manner for all individuals whose last assessed or declared income is rupees one million or more [up to tax year 2011 this limit was rupees 500,000]. It means that all persons in the service of Pakistan, holding public offices and elected representatives having this threshold of income must have filed wealth statements conforming to their declaration of assets and liabilities filed under the laws mentioned above. There is no mechanism to check it. This can only be done through parliamentary control as is the case in mature democracies.
A non-partisan Parliamentary Standing Committee on Asset Disclosures and Investigation should be formed to inquire into matters relating to assets disclosures by elected representatives. It should examine the data of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). For probing sources of acquisition of assets, the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 contains detailed provisions. At present, unnecessary confusion has been created in media debates about laws relating to disclosure of assets by politicians. Nobody is clear about the applicability and interplay of various laws.
The ongoing tug of war between political parties on the issue of asset declarations should be resolved democratically. First of all, the FBR should be obliged by law to convey to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Asset Disclosures and Investigation all declarations filed by persons in the service of Pakistan, holding public offices and elected representatives. The Committee can compare declarations filed under the Civil Servants Act, 1973, Army Act, 1952 and related rules, Representation of People Act, 1976, the Senate (Election) Act, 1975, Rule 4 of the Political Parties Rules, 2002 with those filed under the Income Tax Law. In case of any discrepancies or complaint of suppression and concealment, the Committee can ask FBR, NAB, FIA, MP, Military Court, as the case may be, to take action under the law. Election Commission has no power to investigate about the veracity and sources of assets submitted to it.
For political parties there should be a provision in the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 making it incumbent on them to file their tax returns. Their income should be exempt from tax, provided they file returns voluntarily and present audited accounts for scrutiny. Such provisions exist in tax laws of all the major democracies. In India, not only does this law exist [section 13A of Income Tax Act, 1961] but recently the Chief Election Commissioner of India, S Y Qureshi, asked the Indian Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to scrutinise accounts submitted by political parties. Earlier, the Central Information Commission of India directed the Income Tax Department to disclose in public interest, details of donors given by political parties in their tax returns. With this information in the public domain, the Commission said, there would be transparency in the funding of both small and big parties, besides checking the flow of black money in the electoral process.
The starting point of across-the-board accountability in Pakistan should be the scrutinising of declaration of assets, liabilities and taxes paid by politicians, high-ranking civil and military officials and judges. The civil society and media should come forward to force the parliament to abolish all laws relating to secrecy and/or immunity and enact a comprehensive legislation for obtaining information by any citizen under the Freedom of Information Law.
The slogan for accountability and reforms in Pakistan has assumed great public importance after the successful rallies by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. The issue should not be confined to public disclosures of assets by politicians alone. It should be extended to judges, generals and civil servants as well. The public and media should strive for an effective right-to-information legislation that alone can pave the way for true democracy. Information about the assets of close relatives and dependants is equally important in our context as most of the assets are kept in their names. An affidavit should also be mandatory to the effect that no asset has been kept as benami (name-lender).
The accountability of powerful segments of society should be initiated through a law making it obligatory on the FBR to publish an annual tax directory as was done in 1993 disclosing area-wise details of taxes paid by salaried and non-salaried persons for assessment year 1992-93. This step would expose the rich and mighty who have amassed enormous wealth, but are not filing their tax declarations under the law. Election laws should also be amended debarring tax delinquents from contesting elections.
(The writers, tax consultants and authors of many books on Pakistani tax laws, are visiting Professors at Lahore University of Management Sciences)
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