Irregularities in Covid fund: AGP vows to unmask culprits

Top auditor says law not followed in Ehsaas programme

ISLAMABAD:

The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has vowed to unmask the culprits found guilty of committing irregularities detected in the expenditures incurred on the Covid-19 relief programme, expressing the resolve that those who have undermined the legal procedure will not be spared.

“The law was not followed in the Ehsaas programme as its transparency was questioned in a report submitted to the president,” Muhammad Ajmal Gondal said in an informal conversation with the media after attending a function on self-accountability and public service at the AGPR on Saturday.

The top auditor said more details about the irregularities would be unveiled in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), saying that it was deplorable that legal requirements were undermined in the carrying out of the relief programme.

“The findings in the report by the Ministry of Finance have raised serious questions about the level of transparency in carrying out the programme's operations,” the top auditor noted.

Also read: Rs40b irregularities detected in PM’s Covid package

“Those involved in the irregularities will not be spared,” he maintained, regretting that Covid-19 infection could not be completely eliminated.

On Friday, Pakistan gave in to the International Monetary Fund’s pressure as it released the audit report of expenditures incurred on Covid-19 after holding on to it for six months. Irregularities worth Rs40 billion were detected in the operations.

The findings of the AGP showed misprocurement, payments to ineligible beneficiaries, cash withdrawal through fake biometrics and procurements of substandard goods by Utility Stores Corporation (USC) for consumption.

The release of the report by the Ministry of Finance is one of the five prior actions that the IMF has asked Pakistan to implement if it wants to get the $1 billion loan tranche by January next year.

The auditors attempted to scrutinise Rs354.3 billion expenses but did not get all the records, the report showed. From the record of expenses and procurements available, the auditors have unearthed Rs40 billion irregularities.

The maximum irregularities of over Rs25 billion were found against Rs133 billion spent under the banner of the Benazir Income Support Programme, which was equal to 19% of its spending. The USC spent Rs10 billion but the auditors raised questions on Rs5.2 billion or 52% of its spending.

The National Disaster Management Authority’s spending was Rs22.8 billion and the auditors raised a red flag on Rs4.8 billion or around 21% of the spending.

The defence ministry also had doubtful and irregular spending to the tune of Rs3.2 billion while other government departments had dubious expenses to the tune of Rs1.5 billion, showed the report.

BISP clarification

Meanwhile, BISP in a statement issued on Sunday clarified that the contents of the Audit Report were misconstrued. “Total disbursement made under Ehsaas Emergency Cash (EEC) was Rs179.4 billion instead of indicated amount of Rs133 billion. It is further clarified that audit observations/recommendations related to EEC were of mainly of a technical and advisory nature. Despite its massive operations both in terms of coverage and fiscal quantum in a context of strict lockdowns, there were audit recommendations of a technical nature relating to Ehsaas amounted to Rs4 billion out of Rs179.4 billion disbursements which is equal to only 2.23% instead of reported 19%.”

Rebutting the "recent negative media reports", BISP said that it holds the office of the Auditor General of Pakistan in high esteem and takes their recommendations in a positive sense to further refine and strengthen systems. The BISP authorities reiterated that no irregularity was committed during disbursements, besides there were no allegations from Audit of mis-procurement, no violation of rules, no financial mismanagement, no loss to the exchequer, no wasteful expenditure, no overpayments, no unauthorised retention and no allegations of corruption.