Important PML-N financial documents ‘still missing’

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib has requested the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to ensure that documentary proofs of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) bank accounts are made open to scrutiny.

The scrutiny panel of the agency met again on Thursday for the fourth consecutive day to probe PML-N's financial records of over Rs450 million allegedly kept hidden on the ruling party's petition that the opposition party was withholding many "suspicious" bank records of foreign funding it received.

During the meeting, Minister of State Farrukh Habib submitted a petition in the ECP, stating that the documents provided by the party so far do not contain any important details, including bank statements of various party accounts, copies of cross-cheques or deposit slips of received funds.

Without these important financial documents, the record of PML-N cannot be examined, he said, adding that in three years, Rs450 million had been deposited in the party accounts of PML-N and many suspicious names were found in the list of depositors.

The minister said that millions of rupees were deposited in PML-N party accounts under fictitious names and there were no funds transfer receipts provided. “I moved the scrutiny committee to ensure that PML-N provides its financial records so that the sources of their funds can be ascertained,” he added.

Talking to media persons outside the ECP after the meeting, Farrukh Habib said that PML-N had so far failed to provide documentary proofs of its funding and if illegal foreign funding was proven, the PML-N might be banned by the ECP. He said it was the responsibility of the Election Commission to check the accounts of all political parties across the board.

Farrukh Habib said that in 2017, he had filed a petition for the scrutiny of party accounts of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and PML-N, adding that PTI financial experts had been checking their accounts for the past four days.

He stated that Nawaz Sharif had taken home Tosha Khana’s BMW car and had not even spared his party’s fund, withdrawing Rs45 million for his personal use. “We have submitted the objections of financial experts on the party accounts of PML-N to the Election Commission,” he said.

He added that one such dubious deposit was made by a Bhawan Das, who deposited Rs30 million in PML-N accounts. "It came to our notice that funds were transferred to PML-N accounts from different sources and Ishaq Dar used to determine as to in whose name the receipts would be prepared."

He stated that by not providing receipts, the PML-N was turning our doubts into belief adding that PPP accounts also had to be checked for which they were awaiting account details.

Replying to a question, he said that the issue of the Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) honour was highlighted by Prime Minister Imran Khan all over the world. Farrukh Habib questioning the logic of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) protest asked if someone hurts Muslim sentiments abroad, was it permissible to kill our own people.

He stated that activists of the banned outfit had opened fire on policemen but we are still willing to listen to their legitimate demands.