PAC orders audit of Supreme Court accounts

The Public Accounts Committee ordered the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) on Tuesday to audit the Supreme Court’s budget and submit a comprehensive report on salaries, perks and privileges, and plots alloted to judges of the apex court.

PAC Chairman Noor Alam Khan directed the AGP Muhammad Ajmal Gondal to submit the report by March 30, saying the matter has already been delayed a lot and no further time would be given.

The PAC chairman’s direction came after he recalled that the AGP has not yet submitted the report about the apex court’s audit despite the committee’s earlier directions.

“We don’t even know how much salary the judges are drawing,” Noor said, reminding Gondal that the accountability forum of the parliament was still awaiting a response in this regard.

“AGP sahib, the Public Accounts Committee wants to ask where and how much public and government money is being spent, how much salary is being given [to the judges], and what perks and privileges are being given to them,” he inquired.

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“I have repeatedly asked for these details,” Noor continued, adding, “give details about each judge and how many plots have they been given; you have to submit the report to us and we won’t allow any further delay in it.”

Amid talks about provincial elections and snap polls, Noor at one point expressed hope that the government would complete its tenure, saying “we are here till August".

Before setting March 30 as the deadline for the submission of the report, Noor, while hearing murmurs about ordering the audit of the top court, said that someone has to do it so “I am starting this audit.”

He then formally dictated that the “Public Accounts Committee gives direction that the audit of Supreme Court should be carried out".

The directions about the Supreme Court’s audit came during the PAC meeting called to review the audit paragraphs of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR). It emerged during the meeting that FBR was reluctant to give the AGP office access to its data for audit citing security concerns, saying it was ready to give data to AGP in a compact disk (CD).

On security concerns, PML-N’s Shaikh Rohale Asghar reminded the committee that FBR’s data was hacked not so long ago. MNA Malik Mukhtar Ahmad added that FBR’s data was not only hacked but it was sold on the dark web for $10,000, saying the hacking took place because FBR was using pirated software.

While going through the audit paragraphs, JUI-F’s Shahida Akhtar Ali noted that the government recently brought a "mini-budget" of Rs170 billion but the total amount of the 20 audit paragraphs of the FBR for one year was equal to Rs143 billion.

Regretting that this was the situation of a department which deals with the whole country’s monetary issues, Mukhtar Ahmad incorporated that money was devaluing quickly because of the prolonged litigation.

Chairman FBR Asim Ahmad responded by saying that the committee should also see how much amount was left after the appeals and several rounds of litigation.

To a question whether FBR would be able to achieve its annual tax target, Asim vowed that FBR would achieve the target, hoping that import compression will ease out when the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal is revived. Economically, he said, things would start getting better by the end of this month.

Amid other things, the committee also discussed the issue of dollars being smuggled out to Afghanistan and goods being smuggled in from neighbouring countries, including Iran.

PAC member Nuzhat Pathan raised the issue of smuggling of goods through the buses carrying pilgrims to Iran, alleging customs and agencies’ officials give clearance after taking bribes.

“Why FBR doesn’t see all this,” Pathan questioned. “FBR’s presence is only on the notified check posts,” replied the FBR chairman, saying FBR doesn’t have the kind of access it should have at the borders. The PAC chairman added that going after a particular institution wasn’t the right thing to do every time.

Asim also informed PAC that he has recently raised the issue of smuggling before Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and told him that the interior ministry was made the focal ministry for anti-smuggling activities but FBR is later asked to answer for smuggling. He revealed that PM has responded by saying that FBR would soon be made the focal department in this regard.

Member Customs-Operations, Mukarram Jah Ansari, apprised PAC that more hype was created about dollars being smuggled to Afghanistan than the reality, saying the customs officials have confiscated dozens of currency smuggling cases each amounting to roughly $5,000 and $8,000.

Ansari said that currency amounting to $4.5 million, including euros, pounds and others, have been confiscated from the airports and border areas in the last year. To this, a member said that the Letter of Credit for the industries was closed but currency smuggling was still going on.