Sindh dodges private audit of pension fraud

Govt officials allegedly involved in distribution of billions of rupees through fake pension payments

KARACHI:

In what appears like an act of dodging accountability, the Sindh government has opposed the idea of independent forensic audits on hundreds of millions of rupees distributed on account of pension benefits in the province. The forensic audit had been proposed following reports of major embezzlements marring the distribution of pension benefits, where sums of money had been allegedly taken out through fake payments made by district treasury offices of the province.

Officers of the district treasury offices, including district Hyderabad and Dadu, were also reportedly involved in the distribution of billions of rupees through fake payments of pension benefits. Most of the fake payments were made during the period between 2007 to 2021. According to official sources, the issue came in the limelight when the provincial Anti-Corruption Department and federal government’s National Accountability Bureau (NAB) got a hint of the anomalies and started an investigation into the matter. The NAB had also traced several fake bank accounts in 2021 that were used for the purpose of transferring pension funds through fake commutation bills.

Following this development, the matter was discussed between high officials of Accountant General Sindh (AG Sindh) and Accountant General Pakistan Revenues (AGPR) at the start of this year. There were also follow up meetings with officers of the Sindh Finance Department (SFD) on the issue. Finally, it was decided to conduct a forensic audit of pension benefits of at least 15 years, from 2007 to 2021, through an independent private firm.

However, the finance department later appeared to roll back on the unanimous decision, opposing the likelihood of the independent forensic audit, which was formally articulated in a meeting held on April 19 of this year. It was decided at the meeting that AG Sindh will be contacted and requested to arrange forensic audit by officers of the AGPR, instead of an independent, private firm.

On May 28, the finance department wrote a letter to the AG Sindh and informed about its reservations in this regard. It was stated in the letter that the finance department is of the view that hiring a private audit firm for forensic audit would not produce fruitful results for the following reasons: The rules and procedures regulating pension benefits are generally applicable to civil servants, and private firms do not have the experience and expertise of forensic audit of pension benefits.

“We therefore seek your cooperation for taking up the matter with Auditor General of Pakistan for comprehensive forensic audit of payments of pension benefits disbursed from AG Sindh and all DAOs (District Accounts Offices) from 2007 to 2021 to identify malpractices and irregularities in disbursement of pension and fix responsibilities on delinquent officers,” the official letter maintained.

However, according to senior economist and former Advisor to the Sindh Chief Minister for Planning and Development Kaiser Bangali, there is no reason for private audit firms to not conduct the forensic audit of a government department. “They [private firms] have the expertise and capacity for it,” he maintained. 

Speaking on the matter, senior audit officer of the Federal government while requesting anonymity, said that getting forensic audit by government’s own officers will not ensure transparency. According to him, lack of post audit system has increased chances of irregularities in distribution of pension funds. “Hundreds of millions rupees are distributed on account of pension benefits in Sindh without post audit checking,” he commented.

When asked to comment on the matter however, Sindh Chief Minister’s spokesperson Abdul Rasheed Channa was of the view that the provincial government will ensure transparent audit of the distributed pension benefits.

“The finance department has mentioned some issues about forensic audit by private firms. It was the reason that the department has requested the audit by AGPR officers who possess long experience in this regard,” he told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2022.