Audit report reveals discrepancies in finance dept

LAHORE:

A financial report of the Auditor General of Pakistan for the year 2019/2020, has unearthed several irregularities amounting to Rs867,924.91 million in the Punjab Finance Department.

Among said irregularities, the biggest discrepancy however is worth Rs 509,260.25 million, for which the provincial finance department has remained unable to furnish any explanations to the audit authority.

According to the report, the audit department had explicitly informed the provincial finance department that the discrepancies in its records were owed to its flawed financial control system, which could be considered an illegal offence.

Details reveal that the audit authority had been issuing directives to the finance department to release records of various government projects.

However, despite directives, the department remained unable to provide the sought documents even during the audit of the financial year 2018/2019.

The issue was highlighted by the auditor general in the November 2019 analysis, where he shared details of the said discrepancies. Although the finance department registered its response in the regard, department management avoided providing any reasons for the the non-issuance of the said records.

Per latest development, The Auditor General of Pakistan has provided its recommendations on the matter and called for a high-level probe into the discrepancies to identify the culprits.

Furthermore, it has also suggested furnishing records of the completed projects, which had so far remained absent.

These include records for various government projects including the Orange Line Train worth Rs4.58 trillion, the investment records of PPF worth Rs33 billion, General provident Fund investments worth Rs5.34 billion, Punjab Revenue Authority Lahore’s Rs.0.46 million and some other projects worth Rs12.6 billion in funds.

Similarly, the department has also remained unable to furnish the sectional record and records for food account II, Corporate Finance Unit and the Tax Reform Unit.

As per provincial government’s business rules 2011, no government department is authorised to invest in other department.

Moreover, in regard to the said financial irregularities, it is alleged that there have also been various fraudulent activities.

These include unlawful appointments in addition to questionable salary raises in risk management, tax reform management, debt management and corporate finance departments.

Furthermore, the convergence of financial management issues with the management commercial bank accounts along with other matters, have reportedly caused misappropriation of Rs3.56 trillion, in violation of the rules and regulations. Likewise, issues like overpayment and non-recovery have also brought severe losses to the national exchequer, highlighted the financial report.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2020.