Bangladesh Newspaper Archives
'EC won't publish party audit reports
Fri, Jul 22nd, 2011
Dhaka, July 22– Taking a U-turn from its earlier stance, the Election Commission (EC) now says it will not make public the audit reports of the political parties.
Expressing the EC's unwillingness, chief election commissioner (CEC) A T M Shamsul Huda told "The commission has no authority to publish the reports as those are their
[parties] internal affairs.
"The EC had earlier said they would have the reports of the parties scrutinized by registered audit firms and publish those on its website once they are submitted.
A front-ranking anti-corruption activist, however, disapproved of the CEC's notion saying that the reports become pubic property once they are received by the EC.
M Hafizuddin Khan said: "The reports no more remain a secret thing after submission to the commission.
"He, a former chairman of the Bangladesh chapter of Transparency International, said without publishing the audit reports, the procedure of EC's taking those would
become valueless.
The election law, Representation of People Order (RPO), has made it mandatory for the parties to submit their annual earning and expense statement to the commission for
ensuring their financial transparency.
This year the deadline for report submission is July 31 and the commission has already sent reminders to 38 registered parties.
"The parties must submit their annual audit report of the last year before July 31.
We've already sent letters to them," election commissioner M Sakhawat Hossain told bdnews24.
com.
Khan thinks the EC must examine the audit reports properly, voicing concern that the reports, submitted for the first time upon legal bindings, might have been
manipulated.
Some parties have, however, objection to publishing the earning and expenditure statements.
Disapproving of the provision, Bangladesh -e- acting secretary-general A T M Azharul asked: "Does every organisation or any media outlet publish its audit report?"
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