Rs43m found in bank accounts of DEA official in Punjab

Audit dept refers revelation of unutilised funds for inquiry

FAISALABAD:

The audit department has uncovered Rs43.672 million in bank accounts of an official of the District Education Authority (DEA) and reported the matter to secretaries of school education and finance, the Chief Minister’s Inspection Team and the deputy commissioner of Faisalabad.

In a letter addressed to the provincial and district authorities, the audit department stated that during audit of the Faisalabad District Education Authority chief executive officer’s office, audit officials observed a balance of Rs43 million in two bank accounts of a drawing and disbursing officer (DDO).

Detailed scrutiny of the bank statement of an account in the Bank of Punjab GC University Faisalabad Branch revealed that funds transferred to several schools had been returned to the account due to unknown reasons. The funds got accumulated and were not transferred back to the schools. Furthermore, an amount of Rs1.499 million was withdrawn from the account but the bank statement showed that it had been returned, for which the relevant record was not shown to the audit officials. The balance available in the bank account on July 22, 2018 was Rs19.783 million.

A balance of Rs23.889 million was available on December 18, 2018, in another account of the official in the D-Ground branch of the same bank.

The funds were neither utilised nor transferred, but kept in the DDO’s bank accounts without authority, the audit department alleged.

Sources said that considering the seriousness of the observation, the audit office repeatedly contacted the DEO chief executive office, calling for depositing the unspent balance in the treasury without further delay.

But no compliance report has been submitted to the audit department and the unspent balance is still lying in the bank accounts, so a request has been forwarded to higher authorities to inquire into the matter at the appropriate level.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 6^th, 2020.