ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information Farrukh Habib on Monday accused the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of operating multiple secret bank accounts.

Talking to reporters outside the Election Commis­sion of Pakistan (ECP), he said the perusal of financial documents of the two parties revealed that the PML-N and PPP hold nine and eleven undeclared bank accounts respectively.

The remarks came a day before an open hearing of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) foreign funding case by the ECP. The scrutiny committee had submitted its report to the commission on Nov 26.

Mr Habib said that a scrutiny committee was investigating the funding of political parties, and the PTI had given a list of its 40,000 donors as every political party is mandated to file the funding record.

“PTI has introduced the concept of political fundraising. It is the only political party that has not received any funding from any interest group. Overseas Pakistanis are our major financiers, and each of our accounts has been declared before the ECP,” he said.

The minister said that every political party’s finances should be declared in public, adding that the party has prepared a report on the mis-declaration of accounts by PML-N and PPP.

“PML-N has given details of only two of its bank accounts. There is no record of their 98 per cent donations,” he alleged. “They have used their secret accounts to legalise their ill-gotten wealth.”

The minister urged the ECP to hold daily hearings on the party funding case of all three parties.

The minister said the PTI was the only party that was managing its funds with complete transparency.

He referred to former prime minister Benazir Bhutto’s book and alleged that Nawaz Sharif had received $10 million from Osama bin Laden in 1990s to bring a no-trust move against her government. The PTI’s MNA added that the PML-N tried to hide behind legal technicalities that the law did not apply to a matter beyond five years.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2022