Senate Standing Committee on Finance here on Monday strongly supported Private Member Bill seeking it should be made mandatory for Non-Governmental Organisation (NGOs) operating with foreign funding to make their balance sheet public showing where money is spent and what the outcome is under one regulatory regime.
Private Member Bill named Regulation of Foreign Contributions Act 2012 was placed by Tariq Azeem MNA and during the meeting he was of the view thatNGOs are working in the country without proper check and utilising foreign aid money for their own agenda or priorities and even against public interest.
He informed that some 12 institutions in the country have authority to register NGOs and no one knows in the country that who is funding who for what purpose and where is the aid money is being spent. These NGOs are not maintaining their accounts properly and not answerable to any government institution. Many countries in the world have started legislating to properly regulate them and Egypt had to arrest representative of 27 NGOs and India has banned the working of three NGOs recently. He said that even USAID don't know where its money is being spent and it had to publish advertisements in the news papers for receiving complaints against utilisation of such funds. There must be a cap of 20 percent funds for administrative purposes and 80 percent funds must be utilised for development purposes.
The Bill seeks to allow only Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan to allow and regulate such NGOs and it should be made mandatory for NGOs to present their audited account to SECP for making them public. Senator Ishaq Dar while supporting the Bill proposed that all the 12 institutions have been asked to furnish their comments on the proposed bill and let these comments come into debate the proposed bill. He said that at present federal as well as provincial authorities are dealing with NGOs registration and proposed that there should be one registering authority in the country as well as for their regulation one institution should be at federal level.
Professor Khursheed Ahmed fully supported the bill and informed the committee that new Senate Standing Committee that would be formed after Senate election should examine this bill and pass it for national requirements. Senator Haroon Khan, Senator Ilyas Bilour, Islam-ud-Din Sheikh while supporting the Bill said that it the right time to legislate and properly regulate such NGOs for national interest as at present no one knows from where the funds are coming and where are being spent. It has become international issue and Pakistan's parliament should immediately legislate on NGOs operating with foreign funding.
It was decided in the meeting that Senator Ishaq Dar and Senator Ilyas Bilour to be co-sponsors of the Bill so as to ensure it's review and passage by the next Senate Committee to be formed after Senate election by March 2012. Another sub-committee under chairmanship of Haroon Akhtar submitted its report on Natover leasing where Rs 950 million of depositors were at risk. National Accountability Bureau (NAB) identified Rs 250 million but now they were directed to trail down in two weeks that where this money was parked. Now this deadline given to NAB would end on March 8 so it will ensure recovery of the depositors' money.