ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz on Monday accused the PPP and the PML-N of getting donations from "criminals" and "corrupt elements", due to which they are unable to submit any evidence in foreign funding case pending before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
Speaking at a presser along with parliamentary secretary for railways Farrukh Habib, he said there should be a difference between "prohibited and foreign funding".
He said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is not involved in any kind of getting funds from prohibited entities like foreign governments or multi-national companies.
He said Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) have been using party funding for money laundering besides accepting funds from "prohibited organizations", and this is the reason they are unable to give evidence in their defence in the foreign funding case.
The minister said the PTI has given complete details of all its accounts to the ECP, adding that the PTI, instead of accepting funds from mafias, had sought cooperation from its workers and sympathizers, who deposited small amounts ranging from 10 to a few hundred dollars.
Farrukh Habib said the ECP's scrutiny committee, auditing accounts of the PML-N and the PPP, has issued three different orders, urging them to submit details of their accounts, but none of them is ready to comply with the commission's directions.
He said PML-N is registered as a "private limited company" in the UK and the United States. He questioned as to how a political party can be registered as a private limited company in foreign countries.
Habib alleged that PPP's "principal agent" is Asif Ali Zardari in the US, where he has been receiving funding from foreign companies.
He said the ECP is asking PPP to submit its foreign accounts' record, "but it is yet to submit any evidence because it has no evidence."
He said Nawaz Sharif first donated Rs100 million to PML-N and, later got transferred Rs60 million of that amount to his personal account. He said the PML-N is also not providing details of its expenditure of Rs700 million, which it spent on media campaigning.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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