KARACHI: Though low in terms of spirit, the election 2008 happens to be the most expensive electoral exercise in national history, with advertising and publicity campaigns replacing the traditional rallies and public meetings. How billions of rupees that are being spent across the country reach their respective destinations is something that has remained a secret, just as is the case with the volume of informal money involved in the whole process.
How payments are being made to printers, artists, advertisers, labourers, temporary or hired workers and a whole lot of others is not clear, but bankers believe that most such payments are made in cash. “Most of the money-related activities in these elections are totally un-documented,” said a senior banker.
Payments through cheque are rare and are restricted to major deals like payment to electronic and print media, a banker said. In reply to a question about how it is possible to manage such a huge amount in cash, the banker said the payments are not being made through any one central pocket. “A national assembly or provincial assembly candidate is quite capable of find a few big businessmen or industrialists who have large chunks of money in their accounts and they have no problem paying in cash,” he said.
The payment system differs from party to party. In some cases, a political party pays to its candidates for expenses, while there are also cases where candidates themselves find sponsors for elections campaigns. In both the cases, however, like-minded industrialists and businessmen provide funds while keeping the process entirely undocumented.
Bankers say that despite strict money-laundering laws, banks are not vigilant enough to check the sudden rise in the deposits of some account holders. Black money, they believe, has a definite role in elections and would have surely been coming into the banking system through different account holders.
Branch managers are supposed to keep an eye on payments and the arrival of fresh deposits, but the rule is not followed despite the fact that any case of money-laundering could deprive a bank from it license to operate.
According to bank officials, there is no account in the name of ‘Party Fund’ as claimed by different political parties. PML-Q leader Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is using a helicopter in his election campaign through the so-called ‘party fund’, but there is no account title for such fund in any bank.
Similarly other parties have also talked of party funds, but bankers deny having any such account title. The Election Commission has also kept mum thus far on this mysterious fund.
“Hundreds of party workers of second and third tiers are involved in making cash payments for various purposes and these transactions are not transparent,” said a worker of a large political party. The whole system is cash-based is preferred by both parties and party workers.
