Secret funds: SC questions ‘misuse’ of public money

Bench presents five questions to Midas Advertising Company.

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has asked the information ministry to justify its use of secret funds for the propaganda and publicity of government functionaries, warning that if the ministry failed to so, the court would carry out a judicial examination.

Heading a two-member bench, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja stated that a justification in this regard should be provided to the court as it was the public’s right under Article 19 of the Constitution to know how and where their money is spent.

“If the concerned department fails to give this very justification then a judicial examination could be conducted in this regard,” he said. “The court has the right to examine matters pertaining to the national exchequer if it is not spent on the welfare of taxpayers.”

The information ministry’s counsel, Zulfiqar Maluka, stated that Rs120 million in secret funds had been spent last year, out of which Rs100 million was spent as special publicity funds and Rs20 million under Secret Service Funds. Besides this, he added, Rs3.40 billion was spent by the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) and Rs380 million by the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP).

“We don’t want to close APP or PBC, but we want to know whether the money of taxpayers is used in a transparent manner or not. We don’t want government functionaries to use these institutions as a propaganda machine for publicity,” he added.

Furthermore, The Express Tribune correspondent Asad Kharal informed the court that a sum of Rs4.790 billion in ‘secret funds’ has been distributed during the tenure of the incumbent government.

The bench also presented five questions for the Midas Advertising Company over the misuse of the Universal Service Funds (USF). The court sought the grounds under which the advertising company was selected for the media campaign and whether it was done under Pemra rules. The court also asked which ministry was given funds for the media campaign and what the total budget was.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2012.