ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday re-submitted two separate petitions seeking a detailed audit of the funding of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for years 2013-2015.

The petitions were filed before the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) by PTI central leader Farrukh Habib through Advocate Faisal Chaudhry, and accuse both parties of concealing their source of funds and the companies registered by them in the United Kingdom and the United States.

They seek the cancellation of election symbols allocated to both “for their failure to meet legal requirements for eligibility to obtain the symbols”.

The petitions were previously filed by Mr Habib in person but were returned by the ECP on Oct 27 with directives for their re-submission under the Elections Act 2017, pointing out that the Political Parties Order stood repealed after the passage of the fresh law.

Party seeks clarification from ECP on delay in Kulsoom Nawaz oath

According to the petitions, the commission is vested with the powers under section 15(4) of the act to initiate proceedings on its own, and the petitioner has urged ECP to take up the matter in accordance with the law.

The petition against the PML-N states that the party has relied on audits by firms not rated by quality control reviews, which has adopted an incorrect reporting format.

No sources of funds have been declared, the accounts are contradictory and do not comply with the mandatory requirements of the Political Parties Order or Political Parties Rules, it states.

“The respondent political party may be generating money from prohibited sources, but since they have consciously failed to provide any information it is clear that the respondent political party is attempting to conceal where the money is being generated from,” the petition reads.

It says that the PML-N receives funds from “other revenue”, but fails to disclose what this is and how this head can raise such large amounts. “This revenue could be coming from a foreign company or foreign government or from a multinational but no disclosure is being made clearly in order to conceal this information so that nobody can question the person or organisation which is sending these funds.”

The petition also alleges that the PML-N runs a private limited company in the UK that has not been disclosed in the documents submitted to the ECP. “This is a foreign incorporated company which is registered under the Registrar of Companies for England and Wales. What is more alarming is that under the objective clause, this company has power to carry on any trade or business and to enter into any arrangement with any government or authority,” it reads.

It alleges that the PML-N has been used for money laundering and received Rs100 million from erstwhile prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 2013, while Rs45m was later remitted back into the personal account of Mr Sharif. This transaction, it points out, has not been disclosed to the ECP.

The petition against the PPP says that the account statements of the party for the period between 2009 and 2012 are not available, either due to non-filing or for reasons best known to the party. The accounts of 2013 started with an opening balance of Rs 41.47m from the previous years, however, where that opening balance was generated from is undisclosed.

As per the audited accounts, the expenses of the PPPP led by Asif Zardari were Rs 2.56m, Rs3.644m and Rs3.55m in 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively.

However, as per the audited accounts these expenses were borne by the PPP headed by Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. “This is a clear and blatant violation of Article 6(3) of the PPO whereby the political party can only receive contribution from an individual and not from another political party”.

Delayed oath

Also on Thursday, PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry wrote to the ECP, drawing its attention to the three-month delay in the oath-taking of Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, who won the by-election held in NA-120, following disqualification of her husband Nawaz Sharif.

In the letter, Mr Chaudhry states that three sessions of the National Assembly have already passed since the election was held, and the president has just called a fourth. However, Ms Nawaz has yet to take the oath of office, depriving the people of her constituency of their fundamental right to representation.

The letter asks whether there is any provision to declare the results of such an election — where the returned candidate is unable to assume office due to any reason — invalid and hold polling afresh.

Published in Dawn, December 1st, 2017