In a first, ECP to audit MPs’ assets

Initially, statements of 25% lawmakers to be scrutinised

ISLAMABAD: In a move that is likely to raise many eyebrows in political circles, the top poll supervisory body has decided to start a random audit of assets of lawmakers based on the statements they file every year.

Initially, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) would scrutinise the asset statements of 25% of lawmakers, sources told The Express Tribune. These lawmakers would be randomly picked and their statements of assets and liabilities scrutinised and compared.



“If needed, we will seek the services of the judiciary, administration and revenue departments,” a senior ECP official told reporters on Tuesday. The commission has already directed its bureaucracy to develop a standard operating procedure (SOP) for the exercise including a modus operandi and timeline to execute the task.

Given the history of the ECP, the task looks overambitious, but if executed in true spirit, the process could serve as an effective accountability mechanism of legislators.

Under the law, all members of parliament and four provincial legislatures have to submit statements of assets and liabilities of their own, their spouses and dependents to the commission by September 30, each year.



This is laid down in Section 42A(1) of the Representation of Peoples’ Act (ROPA). Another clause of Section 42A(4) reads: “Where a member submits the statement of assets and liabilities under Sub-Section (1) which is found to be false in material particulars, he may be proceeded against under Section 82 for committing the offence of corrupt practice.”

Section 82 of the ROPA prescribes punishment of imprisonment for a term up to three years for a person guilty of  corrupt practice. If convicted, a lawmaker risks disqualification.



Incorporated in 2002, these provisions have remained dormant. Lawmakers only submit asset declarations and the ECP publishes them without any verification.

Most lawmakers ignore the requirement of submitting statements of assets of their spouses and dependents. There is a common perception that the value of assets is under-declared by a majority of politicians.

The ECP has taken this decision at a time when it has already been dealing with disqualification petitions against prominent politicians on charges of concealment of assets.

These include Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and his son Hamza Shahbaz, Prime Minister’s son-in-law Captain (retd) Muhammad Safdar, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, PTI Chairman Imran Khan and PTI Secretary General Jahangir Khan Tarin.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 19^th, 2016.