Pakistan loses Rs59.8m in housing for absent envoys

Rules have changed, residences must be vacated if ambassadors aren’t appointed, PAC told

ISLAMABAD:

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the parliament on Thursday took notice of the Rs59.8 million loss incurred by the country over the maintenance of residences in three countries where Pakistan does not even have its ambassadors.

A meeting of the parliamentary committee was held under the chairmanship of Rana Tanveer Hussain, wherein the audit report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the year 2019-20 was laid out before the members and the matter of investing more funds through Pakistani missions was discussed.

It was highlighted that Pakistani missions abroad have excess funds of Rs1.40 billion.

The foreign secretary said that additional funds cannot be invested in every country, and some amount should be available with the missions at all time. It was also pointed out interest rates are negative in Sweden and Japan.

Sherry Rehman said that the London mission has £2.7 million available in additional funds.

The foreign secretary said that the Pakistani missions have been directed to invest 80 percent of surplus funds in for-profit schemes. The surplus funds are also spent on purchasing properties, he added.

It was highlighted during the meeting that the recruitment of staff in various Pakistani missions without approval caused a loss of Rs72.9 million, and the committee directed the Ministry of Finance to regularise this matter.

Audit officials said that despite not having ambassadors in three countries, properties were rented, causing a loss of Rs59.8 million.

To this, the foreign secretary said that the process of changing ambassadors often takes extra time.

Audit officials pointed out that there was no ambassador in Singapore for nine months. Similarly, there was no ambassador in Sarajevo and Algiers for 19 months and nine months, respectively, they added.

They further pointed out that rules have been changed, and if an ambassador is not appointed for a long time, the residence has to be vacated.

The meeting also discussed the matter of giving Rs37.2 million to Chinese universities to highlight Pakistan’s soft image.

The foreign secretary said that most of the money was disbursed after the audit.

At this point, Syed Naveed Qamar, while praising the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for its good financial management, asked how come it did not get the award for best performance.

At this Rana Tanveer asked whether Qamar wanted him to go to jail. His comment was in reference to journalist Mohsin Baig’s arrest over his derogatory comments about Communications Minister Murad Saeed.

Mushahid Hussain Syed said that not only would they go to jail, but they would be beaten too.

Khawaja Asif chipped in and asked Qamar to stay silent otherwise he would be taken away by Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) personnel.

PAC then disposed of all audit objections of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.