The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has scrutinised annual statements of assets and liabilities of 85 Members of National Assembly and issued notices to some of them on variation in their statements. The ECP has reactivated its Political Finance Wing, which was primarily set up three years ago to investigate the assets of political parties and elected representatives to eliminate corruption from politics.
According to details, scrutiny started from NA-1, Peshawar-I, and as of Monday, statements of assets and liabilities of 85 MNAs have been scrutinised. In case of variation in information, notices have been issued to the MNAs, asking them to clarify the variation noted in their statements.
The ECP Secretariat stated that this is a regular job of the Directorate of Political Finance Wing. Some of the MNAs have responded and provided the requisite clarification and evidences in support of their information, which are in process for further scrutiny and examination. However, some MNAs have not yet responded and required information may be received in due course.
The Directorate of Political Finance started scrutiny of statements of assets and liabilities of the members of the Parliament as per the standard operating procedure (SOP) devised in the light of section 42A, sub-section 4, of Representation of the Peoples Act, 1976 and section 25A, sub-section 4, of the Senate (elections) Act 1975.
The notices are served on the parliamentarians at a time when the ECP is seized with a number of important cases relating to corrupt practices. These include disqualification petitions filed against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and other members of his family as well as Chairman PTI Imran Khan and PTI leader Jehangir Khan Tareen.