PAC for early resolution of embezzlement cases

Recommends setting up special bench to dispose of cases of federal ministries pending for years in courts

ISLAMABAD: The subcommittee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has written a letter to the Ministry of Law and Justice asking it to devise a strategy to speed up the process of resolution of financial embezzlement cases of the federal ministries pending in courts for years.

In the letter, the committee recommended the law secretary and the attorney general to work towards stopping the courts from issuing stay orders and setting up a special bench for early disposal of such cases.

“Cases worth billions of rupees are lingering in different courts [of the country] but no one bothers to actively pursue them so that money can be recovered,” Convener Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said while chairing a PAC committee meeting held to review the audit paras of fiscal year 1990-91 on Thursday.

He lamented that the tribunals were nonfunctional for more than a year and in such a situation the backlog was piling up, which ultimately would be faced by the PAC.

“The PAC meetings are useless without recoveries and are a mere waste of time and resources,” Sadiq said.

"Our directives have not been implemented," said Sadiq, directing issuing summons to the interior secretary and concerned officers for the next meeting. It also issued notices to two Federal Investigation Agency officers over not taking action for recovery of customs duty despite clear directives during the previous meeting.
It was revealed during the meeting that the cases of financial embezzlement were pending in courts due to issuance of stay orders.