Violation of SC orders: Govt yet to audit secret funds

Auditor general fails to come up with a procedure.

LAHORE: The auditor general has failed to comply with the Supreme Court’s orders and establish a procedure to hold audits for the funds dubbed ‘secret’ by the government within the deadline stipulated, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Earlier in July, Justice Jawwad S Khuwaja ordered the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) and the government to come up with a procedure to audit the secret funds of the ministries, including the information ministry, and other departments. The court had set a four-month deadline in this regard.

However, despite the lapse of the deadline, the AGP and government have failed to come up with a way to audit the funds.

Furthermore, it has been revealed that the Intelligence Bureau has not only concealed facts from the Supreme Court but also received over Rs4 billion through supplementary grants during the tenure of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)’s government.



The IB, in its written reply, had informed the Supreme Court that Rs400 million had been withdrawn from its secret fund in 2008. The Ministry of Finance in its reply, however, informed the court that the amount in question was obtained through supplementary grants in 2008.

Documents available with The Express Tribune have revealed that IB did in fact receive the Rs400 million amount in the 2008-09 fiscal year. They stated that the agency has obtained Rs4.056 billion apart from its Rs4.59 billion budget through different supplementary grants.

All these supplementary grants were received from the head of the ‘account of others’ instead of the secret service expenditure’s account No.AO3914, the documents further revealed.

According to the documents, IB received an amount of Rs400 million as a supplementary grant in financial year 2008-09, Rs770 million during 2009-10, Rs944 million in 2010-11, Rs655 million during 2011-12 and Rs1.285 billion during 2012-13.

The agency has not spent a single rupee from the secret service expenditure account over the last five years, according to official statistics.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 9^th, 2013.