.
ISLAMABAD:
The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has issued notices to the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) and the Institute of Management and Management Accountants (ICMAP) for their failure to provide details of foreign travel and expenses of their board members over the last five years.
ICAP is the regulatory body for chartered accountants in Pakistan, while ICMAP is a professional body for cost and management accountants.
Petitioner Jamshed Mir had sought details of the board members’ foreign travel from the two regulatory bodies.
The petitioner claimed that over the past few years, council members – including office bearers, former council members and other members – of ICAP and ICMAP have undertaken frequent trips abroad, purportedly for official functions, delegations and related missions.
“These trips were financed by the institutes’ funds. However, the manner and frequency of these expenditures raised questions of misuse, leading to disputes between stakeholders, and were criticized by the media, which published reports highlighting concerns about the transparency of these expenditures,” said the request submitted to the two bodies.
“In the interest of transparency, accountability and responsible use of public funds, you are kindly requested to provide the following information for each foreign trip undertaken during the last five (05) years by any Council Member (including Officers), former Council Members, ICMAP Members traveling on behalf of the Institute and any other ICMAP officials.”
Subsequently, the petitioner approached the Pakistan Information Commission (PIC) for the same purpose, but could not get any information.
A single-judge bench of the IHC, headed by Justice Inaam Ameen Minhas, is hearing the petition in which the PIC’s inaction on the petitioner’s application was challenged.
