Scrutiny of party funds: Petition filed in ECP for early decision, says Farrukh

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib Wednesday said that a petition has been filed in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for early decision on the applications for scrutiny of party funds.

Talking to media persons outside the Election Commission Secretariat here, he pointed out that no meeting of the scrutiny committee has been held for the last several weeks. “The record presented at the last hearing of the SBP proved that the accounts submitted by the PMLN and the PPP were fake. The Election Commission is a constitutional body and we respect it,” he said.

The party funding case, he noted, is being investigated by the Election Commission and it has formed a scrutiny committee which has held several meetings. The minister said that in the case of scrutiny of party funding, PPP and PMLN have not submitted any record: “Where did the money come from? This is the history of Nawaz Sharif. He kept taking money from Osama bin Laden and also did money laundering. This case should be decided as early as possible. He recalled that the scrutiny committee last met before Ramazan.

“We request the scrutiny committee to look into the matter with the help of a chartered accountant. The scrutiny committee of the Election Commission is hearing the case of PMLN, PPP and ours. The Supreme Court has also given clear instructions to check the accounts of all parties,” he said.

Farrukh Habib said that the National Assembly, was turned into a wrestling and bodybuilding arena. “What a shame that the entire leadership is backing this issue: MNA Malika Bukhari was then targeted and attacked; such people do not care about the dignity of women,” he said.

He alleged that Maryam Nawaz had instructed Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to riot and attack in the House, this is not a new attitude, this is their history, their leadership has carried out such actions including attacking the Supreme Court and stoning the NAB.

“If Maryam Safdar group did not want to listen to the speech of Shehbaz Sharif, they would have walked out of the House and would not have made a fuss,” he said, and added he contacted the opposition 20 times, but did not get any serious response from them.