KARACHI:
The Chairman of NAB and numerous other spokesmen associated with an organisation created for the accountability of public office holders have claimed the recovery of Rs821 billion in the last 16 years. If true, this recovery justifies the creation of this entity funded by the tax payers and the national exchequer.
However, the Ministry of Finance has recently revealed to the Senate Standing Committee on Finance that only Rs6.458 billion have been deposited in the national treasury. This gap of Rs814.54 billion is too wide to be ignored or accepted in a country facing a financial crunch so acute that the state is unable to fulfill its constitutional obligations of providing basic healthcare, education and clean drinking water to the vast majority that live below the poverty line. Where has this money gone is a question that baffles the imagination.
This anomaly also raises doubts about the role of the Auditor General of Pakistan. Why have government auditors failed? Were they not given access to the financial accounts of NAB? Every government that has held power since NAB was created in 1999 must be held accountable for not putting in place financial firewalls to prevent such a mishap.
Malik Tariq Ali
Lahore
Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2021.
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