Irregularities worth Rs11b detected in IIA construction

PAC sub-committee seeks recommendations for conducting a forensic audit

ISLAMABAD: Irregularities worth Rs11 billion have been detected in the construction of the Islamabad International Airport, a sub-committee of the chief parliamentary auditing body was told on Wednesday.

A sub-committee of parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) met with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MNA Fakhar Imam in the chair.

During the meeting of the committee, Imam sought a progress report on the inquiry conducted into the construction of the new airport.

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) secretary said that auditors had raised 10 objections in the construction of the Islamabad International Airport (IIA). He added that investigation reports of three investigative agencies have been received.



Asked whether any part of the embezzled money had been recovered, the CAA official was unable to provide any information about it to the committee.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Rana Tanveer Hussain, who served as the minister for defence production and science and technology in the previous government, asked the CAA officials to admit the fact that they have not made any recoveries as yet.

When asked about the progress of the investigation and whether any steps had been taken to apprehend those responsible for the alleged embezzlement, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials told the committee that they were still probing the matter and that it will take them some four more months to file a reference in the matter.

At this, the committee officials pointed out that the anti-corruption watchdog has already been investigating the case for around nine months and that the bureau has itself set deadlines of 10 months to complete its process from complaint verification to inquiry, investigation and submitting a case in the accountability courts.

Hussain, whose party leaders are in the throes of multiple anti-corruption probe including deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif along with his daughter Maryam and son-in-law Captain (retd) Safdar, the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and the head of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Shahbaz Sharif and his son Hamza along with former federal railways minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, took the opportunity to chastise NAB.

“The agility of NAB can only be seen when it investigates politicians,” he said pointedly.

The committee sought recommendations for conducting a forensic audit of the project.

The committee also reviewed the special audit reports relating to the construction of the multi-storey tower at One Constitution Avenue in Islamabad and the Royal Palm Golf Club in Lahore.

In a meeting of the PAC on the last day of 2018, lawmakers were told that it cost Rs68 billion more to build the airport than first estimated.

The auditor general had said that thus far, Rs85.55 billion have been spent on the project and work on the project is stated to be 99 per cent complete.



He added that the first project concept-I for the project was drafted in March 2008, when the cost of the project was estimated at Rs37 billion. The PC-I underwent a review in 2014 when the project cost was revised to Rs81 billion.

It underwent a second review in March 2018, when its cost was revised to Rs105 billion. The project took eight years to complete and cost Rs68 billion more than the original estimate.

The auditor general added that based on their audit of the discrepancies in the project, four cases were sent to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) while the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) conducted a comprehensive inquiry into the matter. Moreover, the inquiry named every person who was involved in the irregularities.

The PAC had tasked the sub-committee to probe irregularities in the IIA, the under-construction tower in Islamabad and the golf club and submit a report in 30 days.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2019.