PAC helped recover Rs544.48b since Dec 2018

Chairman Rana Tanveer expresses satisfaction with the performance of the committee

ISLAMABAD:

More than Rs544.48 billion was recovered on the directives of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) during the past three-and-a-half years, according to a report presented in PAC by the auditor general of Pakistan on Wednesday.

According to a document available with The Express Tribune, the recoveries included Rs461.41 billion from December 21, 2018, to June 30, 2021, while the remaining amount was recovered from July 2021 to January 2022 period.

As per the breakdown of the data for the current fiscal year, Rs13.69 billion was recovered in July 2021, Rs3.07 billion in August, Rs330 million in September, Rs8.6 billion in October, Rs4.79 billion in November, Rs4.56 billion in December 2021 and Rs6.96 billion in January 2022.

PAC chairman Rana Tanveer Hussain expressed satisfaction with the performance of the committee and termed the recovery of Rs544.48 billion during the last three-and-a-half years extraordinary. He also commended the performance of the auditor general and the audit officials.

Rana Tanveer told the communications secretary that although his ministry had received the number-one ministry award, there was confusion as to the parameters used for the grant of this award. The ministry, therefore, should brief the committee about its performance.

Later, the committee in its meeting took up the matter of purchase of substandard cloth for the uniforms of the National Highway Authority (NHA) police. The inspector general of the highways police (IGP) said that the recommended cloth was not available in the market.

Therefore, the IGP added, another tender was issued. He said that the officer, who made the purchase, was not aware of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority’s (PPRA) rules.

Committee member Khawaja Asif of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) said that if this was done by him (Khawaja Asif), his bail application would have been rejected four times by now. “I would have been in jail today, and a media trial would have been going on,” he added.

“The common perception is that politicians rule this country, but you are the true rulers, who make mistakes, and get away with them easily,” the former foreign minister told the IGP in lighter vein.

Asif said that institutions like the Pakistan Railways (PR) and the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) were destroyed just to reward a few people. “Now foreign airlines are allowed to operate flights on domestic routes, which will completely destroy the PIA,” he added.

Asif pointed out that cultivation of palm oil and tea was not permitted in Pakistan just to retain the commissions that are made through their imports. “This country is under the control of mafias for 70 years,” he added.

Talking to the media after the meeting, the PAC chief said that the opposition was optimistic about the no-confidence motion. “Every Pakistani wants to get rid of this government, and we will succeed in this,” he added.

He said that every political party was dissatisfied with the incumbent government. “Now they have to go to the polls, which is why they are stepping away from the government,” the PML-N leader said in reference to the government’s allies.

Commenting on inflation, he said that the incumbent government was neither democratic nor political, adding that the latest increase in petroleum prices would lead to more inflation, thus affecting people’s lives.

Meanwhile, the committee wrote a letter to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman for not attending a meeting of the PAC subcommittee. The committee also sought details of the audit paras of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Prime Minister House and the President House.