The government has constituted a committee to probe the alleged abuse of authority in transfers and postings, corruption and suspension of payments by Zahid Rashid, the former accountant general of Punjab.
The committee is headed by former chief secretary Pervaiz Masood and comprises Chief Minister’s Inspection Team Chairman Irfan Ali, Excise and Taxation Department Director General Naseem Sadiq and Finance Department Consultant Muhammad Zubair. The committee has been told to submit a report to the chief minister, an official close to development said.
Officers at the Accountant General’s Office submitted a report to the committee on Sunday stating that the auditor general of Pakistan had appointed Rashid as AG of Punjab on May 20, even though the appointment was the CGA’s prerogative. Rashid was a grade 19 officer of the Audit and Accounts Service whereas rules required that the office should be held by a grade 21 officer [according to the Controller General of Accounts Powers and Functions 2001].
“Rashid also transferred three district accounts officers in Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan and Sahiwal and posted men of his choice there even though he lacked authority to order such transfers and postings,” an official at the AGP’s office said speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak on the subject.
When the government resisted the appointments, Rashid suspended in the three districts the operation of SAP/R-3, software that deals with payment authorisation, a Finance Department official said, who also requested that he should not be identified
SAP/R-3 is a computerised system used for authorisation of public payments, including development, non-development funds, salaries, allowances, pension and general provident funds. The system is operated from the AGP office.
“Rashid transferred 50 senior auditors, auditors, accounts officers and assistant accounts officers in his 36-day tenure. They were allegedly replaced by corrupt officials,” said the official from the AGP office.
The sacked AGP had also posed problems for the Finance Department by issuing a deadline for submission of different bills and cheques, which was not his prerogative. On June 19, the Finance Department additional secretary had written a letter to the AGP informing him that a large number of bills and cheques were pilling up due to the suspension of SAP/R-3.
“The closure hampers the utilisation of funds and consequently impedes the development process in the province,” the additional secretary had said in the letter.
“The finance secretary had also written a letter to Rashid on June 16, asking him to restore the system,” the Finance Department official said.
In another letter, the finance secretary had informed Rashid that the AGP’s office had declined claims submitted after June 16, which was not in consonance with the Finance Department’s instructions. “The AGP had neither restored the system nor replied to the letters,” said the official.
On June 9, the CGA wrote to the AGP, stating that he had abused his powers by transferring the district account’s officers. It then cancelled the transfer orders and declared Rashid’s appointment unlawful. Separately, the Punjab government had requested the federal government to remove Rashid from office for closing SAP/R-3 and abusing his powers.
The report states that when Rashid was removed from the post of accountant general, officials in his office found a bag containing fake stamps of various departments and offices. A senior official of the AG office requesting anonymity said the committee visited the office last Friday to initiate the inquiry, record statements, collect documents and evidence in connection with Rashid’s removal on June 28.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 9th, 2014.
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