Rs368m irregularities unearthed in metropolitan corporation audit

The Auditor General of Pakistan has uncovered irregularities amounting to Rs368.04 million in the annual accounts of the Metropolitan Corporation (MC) for the audit year 2022-23.

Orders have been issued to the relevant authorities to rectify the situation and recover the funds through departmental accounts committees.

The audit revealed that the development committee of MC Faisalabad had given administrative approval for works costing Rs68 million by splitting the scheme into four components.

This move was intended to avoid seeking approval from the higher forum, the district development committee.

The breakdown of the approved works included fixing LED street lights Rs16.3 million, repairing lights Rs17 million, rehabilitating lights Rs17.5 million and providing street lights Rs17.2 million.

According to Punjab Local Governments (Works) Rules, 2017, the development committee of a metropolitan corporation is only authorised to approve works costing up to Rs20 million.

However, due to weak internal controls, the scheme was split into sub-components, resulting in irregular administrative approval.

The audit department reported the issue to MC management, requesting a meeting to address the irregularities.

Despite these efforts, MC management did not respond and no progress has been reported.

Additional anomalies were found in various expenditure heads of the MC, including: irregular and unauthentic expenditure on hiring vehicles and machinery Rs57.324 million and non-transparent expenditure on sports activities Rs20.545 million.

The audit department has once again recommended an inquiry and the fixing of responsibility against those at fault, alongside the recovery of the irregular amounts. However, these recommendations have yet to be acted upon.