ISLAMABAD: It is unlikely that electoral body would declare Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) a foreign-funded party - keeping in view that Scrutiny Committee that probed the ruling party’s finances in Foreign Funding Case has not found it guilty of receiving funding from prohibited foreign sources.
Financial irregularities pointed out in the scrutiny panel’s report do not fall under the category of foreign funding, background discussions with informed officials at Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) revealed.
“There are procedural shortcomings mainly that lead to financial irregularities but these issues fall in the domain of financial bodies or tax authorities. The Scrutiny Committee’s mandate was clear— to determine whether PTI received funds from prohibited foreign sources— and the panel did not find solid grounds to charge sheet the ruling party,” an ECP official said, on the strict condition of anonymity.
The investigations of Scrutiny Committees relating to accounts of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PP) are currently pending while PTI has demanded that the ECP ensures the completion of related probes involving these two major opposition parties.
PTI claims that it fully complied with the Scrutiny Committee’s instructions and submitted the record of 40,000 donors and 16 volumes containing detailed evidence of overseas contributions/ donations.
State Information Minister Farrukh Habib has publicly stated that the record including the details of donations from overseas Pakistanis— including LCC (life cycle costing) account, the names, addresses, computerised national identity card numbers and contact numbers of the overseas donors, the details of related bank transactions, relevant bank statements, and receipts of relevant financial activities were submitted by the PTI to the committee.
These details, the PTI alleges, have not been provided by PML-N and PPP and the two have failed to justify their funding from abroad.
Receipts, statements and other relevant proofs are missing from the record submitted by the two parties related to their overseas donations/ contributions, it is reliably learnt.
When contacted, senior PML-N leader Rana Sanaullah denied that the PML-N failed to provide record of overseas donations or contributions in Foreign Funding Case. “This case is all about PTI’s dirty finances. We have nothing to hide. Instead of coming clean, the PTI is levelling counteraccusations against PML-N in a hopeless bid to hide its corrupt practices. But we will not let it escape,” he told Business Recorder.
Former chairman Senate Nayyar Bukhari from te PPP said all bank accounts of the party are duly audited and maintained in a transparent manner. “Instead of worrying about us, the PTI better put its own house in order,” he said.
The ECP source told this correspondent that PTI alone would not bear the brunt in case of an adverse decision in Foreign Funding Case, adding that it also appeared unlikely that the top three political parties of Pakistan would be held responsible for being foreign-funded— and dissolved.
But, sources said, ECP is under pressure from political and public circles to give some ‘solid’ decision in Foreign Funding Case keeping in view that the case has been lingering for over seven years. “Given all the hype surrounding this case and the time it has consumed, there is a possibility that commission may impose some kind of financial penalty on the three political parties for procedural irregularities in receiving contributions from abroad or the matter could be referred to financial bodies/ tax authorities— but assuming that any political party would be found operating against the interest of Pakistan is a bit too much to infer,” an official privy to the matter said.
Former secretary ECP Kanwar Dilshad said any political party can land in trouble if it is established that it received funds from foreign nationals (not overseas Pakistanis). The existing laws make it clear that contributions/donations from overseas Pakistanis to political parties back home do not constitute foreign funding, he added.
Section 204 (3) of Elections Act 2017 provides that any contribution or donation made, directly or indirectly, by any foreign source including any foreign government, multinational or public or private company, firm, trade or professional association or individual shall be prohibited.
Section 204 (4) (b) of the same law says that ‘foreign source’ shall not include an overseas Pakistani holding a national identity card for overseas Pakistanis or NICOP issued by the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA).
Dilshad said that under Section 212 (1) of Elections Act 2017, federal government can issue a notification if it is satisfied that a political party is foreign-aided, and move Supreme Court to have it dissolved — implying that such party would cease to exist after dissolution. However, in case of PTI, which is in the federal government, anyone can move apex court if there are solid grounds that ruling party is foreign-funded, he added.
In accordance with Section 213 of the same act, the lawmakers of a dissolved political party stand disqualified from their respective legislative membership for their remaining terms.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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