NTS dodging verification process

Audit report finds misappropriations to the tune of millions of rupees

ISLAMABAD: Officials of the National Testing Service (NTS) and its related departments do not want the verification process regarding their irregularities and misappropriations to the tune of millions of rupees to take place.

The auditor general of Pakistan (AGP) revealed the irregularities in its recent audit report on NTS.

The NTS has become a major testing authority over the recent years, but with every passing day more and more questions are being raised by parliamentarians about its role and legal position.

The first-ever audit of the body was conducted by the AGP in October last year in collaboration with Higher Education Commission (HEC) on the direction of COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT) Board of Directors which look after the service.

 The audit unearthed damning details about misappropriation of resources and expenditure.

The auditor found out that NTS is functioning without rules, policies, corporate strategy as well as organised objectives, which resulted in misuse of funds to the tune of millions of rupees.

One of the observations revealed that during 2003 to 2010, unauthorised expenditure amounted to Rs453 million, which had no documental proof. The NTS management had told the federal auditors that the “record was misplaced or stolen from office.”

The audit exposed mysterious functions and internal mechanisms of NTS. However, since the start, the NTS management refrained from having an audit conducted. Acting CEO of NTS Sherzada said the AGP had “no right to conduct its audit”.

“We are a body which falls under the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan as we do not withdraw a single penny from the federal exchequer,” he told The Express Tribune.

Now after the passage of over nine months since the audit was conducted, different tactics are being used to avert the verification process of audit objections.

According to sources, right after the audit, the management of NTS and senior officials in CIIT, who are also stakeholders in the service, managed to shift the first Departmental Accounts Committee (DAC) from the HEC to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

It was apparently for the reason that NTS and CIIT blame the HEC for all the ‘bad name’ that has recently been brought to it by forming its own testing body and above all for the disclosure of plagiarised thesis of its former CEO Haroon Rashid, which led to his removal.

The antics did not work and recently the AGP presented its audit report before parliament, which carries details about blatant misuse of funds and minute details about the business being run inside the NTS.

Not a single DAC has cooperated with the auditors to address the audit objections raised against the NTS and its infrastructure. Besides, the verification process of these audit paras has also apparently been abandoned for unknown reasons. “We do not know why the process was stopped but it was discontinued about two months ago,” said the acting CEO of NTS, adding that he had no idea when the follow-up meeting would be held.