MPs ask ECP not to put their asset details on web

ISLAMABAD: Parliament has sought from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) permission to avoid placing on its official website the assets and wealth declaration of MPs but the latter is not inclined to accept this request.

Informed sources said that the Parliamentary Committee on Electoral Reforms had made this request to the ECP, apparently for security reasons and to protect the privacy of the members of parliament.

The MPs feel that making their assets declaration public is tantamount to a breach of their privacy. They also apprehend that putting the details of their wealth on the internet could encourage criminals to rob them through kidnapping and other unlawful acts.

The ECP, which has discussed the matter, however, does not appear convinced with the parliamentarians’ request. The Commission, according to sources, is of the view that the information about the annual wealth and assets declaration of MPs should be available to all and sundry so that people can raise questions about the parliamentarians’ financial matters for scrutiny purposes.

For the purpose of transparency, the ECP wants to continue with the present system where the MPs’ wealth statements are notified and placed on its official website for public information.

The ECP, however, lacks any mechanism for the scrutiny of the MP’s assets on a regular basis.  A few years back, the ECP was keen to evolve a strategy for the verification of all the declarations of the members of parliament including their assets and tax details from the government agencies concerned. The same proposal was once even included in the Election Commission’s reform package.

It was discussed within the Commission that the new system should be implemented from the next general elections under which all the assets and income tax details of all the MPs as declared by them in their nomination papers would be sent to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for scrutiny. 

The ECP also wanted to cross-check all the details given in the declarations during the last elections but it has not been done as yet. Currently parliamentarians are required under the law to declare their assets annually but this practice has turned out to be an annual ritual as such declarations, though made public, do not get scrutinised by the ECP from the respective agencies like the FBR.

The media does reflect on these declarations, which are generally seen as gross under-declaration of assets by many MPs, who show their wealth worth billions and millions in pennies. Still no government agency proceeds against them though these MPs are bound under the law to declare the present value of their properties as well but still they under-declare the same.