ISLAMABAD: A day after the beginning of new financial year, the electoral entity, Tuesday, reminded the political parties to submit their annual wealth statements to it for the last fiscal year, for fulfilling the related legal requirement.
The political parties, to this effect, are required to submit their consolidated statements of accounts for the last financial year; from July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024, latest by this August 29, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said.
The poll body, in a statement, quoted Section 210 of the Elections Act 2017, which provides that a political party shall submit to the commission, within 60 days from the close of a financial year, a consolidated statement of its accounts audited by a chartered accountant— on the prescribed form.
The submission of their annual wealth statements by the political parties to the ECP is regarded as a ceremonial exercise amidst lack of well-defined laws for the electoral body’s Political Wing to proceed against any tax-related discrepancies in the related wealth statements.
The existing laws, however, bar the political parties from receiving funds from foreign entities.
The Section 204 of the 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—and that any contribution or donation which is prohibited under this law shall be confiscated in favour of the government.
This law explains that the term “foreign source” does not include overseas Pakistanis.
In August 2022, the ECP finally announced the much-hyped and long-awaited yet controversial verdict in the Prohibited Funding Case (formerly known as Foreign Funding Case) — around eight years after the case landed in the electoral body in November 2014 — wherein the commission did not find PTI guilty of being a foreign-aided political party. Still, the electoral entity issued PTI a show cause notice for explaining its position over receiving prohibited funds.
After the verdict was issued, the commission came under massive criticism from the PTI and public circles over alleged discrepancies in the 70-page written order in Prohibited Funding Case. Scores of overseas Pakistanis appeared on electronic and social media to lambaste the electoral body for wrongly naming them as foreign donors and accusing them of sending illegal donations to PTI in the written order.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
Comments