‘No more fund raising without record keeping’

LAHORE:

Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Ahmad Sukhera on Wednesday directed the regional, city and district police officers to crackdown on businesses allowing their space for collection of donations without keeping record of the collected amount.

The IGP also directed the officers to remove donation boxes from the premises of such businesses. He said owners should be prosecuted if they fail to produce documents with details about the amounts collected and the use of donation money. He directed the officers to complete the crackdown and submit a report to his officer in two weeks.

A press statement issued on Wednesday stated that an investigation had revealed that many businesses had been keeping no record of the donations raised from passers by as well as their customers. It said that the investigation had found that no information was provided to donors about the organisation collecting donations or the task to which donations were used for. It said the IGP had sought the investigation following media reports and intelligence information about lack of accountability in donation collection process.

It said a number of organisations were collecting donations through boxes placed at payment counters at shopping malls and grocery stores. It added that neither the organisations collecting donations nor the businesses volunteering their premises had been keeping any record.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2015.