Annual Audit
Most parties fail to turn in report
Only 10 out of 38 political parties have submitted their annual audit reports to the Election Commission (EC) until yesterday as the deadline for submission ends today.
The remaining parties including the Awami League, BNP and Jatiya Party should be submitting their audit reports today to meet the deadline, EC officials said.
According to Political Parties Registration Rules, 2008, a party has to have its financial transactions of a calendar year audited by a chartered accountant firm. It should then submit a copy of the firm's report to the EC by July 31of the following year.
The EC will write to the parties, which would fail to submit the report by today, asking to submit the audit reports as soon as possible.
"We will not provide any timeframe, though" Election Commissioner Shah Nawaz told reporters at his office yesterday.
Regarding disclosing the audit reports, the election commissioner said the law does not have any provision, which compels the EC to reveal the contents of those reports.
"We won't disclose the reports. The political parties can disclose their audit reports, if they want," he said.
Parties that have submitted their audit reports include Jamaat-e-Islami, Workers' Party, The Communist Party of Bangladesh, Jatiya Party (JP-Manju), Bangladesh Khelafat Majlish, Krishak Sramik Janata League, Gono Forum, Islami Oikya Jote, Tarikat Federation and Zaker Party.
Prior to the ninth parliamentary elections, registration of political parties with the EC was made mandatory and the rule for submitting audit reports was framed to ensure transparency in the financial transactions of political parties.
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