PAC panel seeks change in rules for recovery from govt officers

ISLAMABAD: A sub-committee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday recommended amendments to the rules and procedures for the recovery from government officers involved in financial irregularities and directed the finance ministry to present the recommendations.

The committee led by former Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq directed Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) to present a detailed report to the committee about the properties purchased by it in last 10 years.

During the meeting, audit officials informed the committee that the EOBI purchased 400 expensive plots in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Islamabad in 2005 but it has not yet been given a title by the authority.

On the committee’s inquiry the officials said that the EOBI had invested in DHA in 2005 but the land was acquired for the construction of a dam and since then the matter was lingering. Sadiq questioned as to how could it be a coincidence that 400 plots were acquired for the dam.

“This seems to be a criminal negligence as the development charges were being continuously paid even after all the plots fall into the dam area,” he observed. The committee, while expressing lack of confidence in the EOBI’s briefing, directed it to present report on the matter in three days.

Officials of Overseas Pakistanis Foundation apprised the committee about their ongoing housing schemes. They said that seven housing schemes, out of nine, were completed on time, whereas two schemes would also be completed by next year.