Audit-dodging departments: Nuclear watchdog agrees to undergo audit

Move comes after PAC summoned heads of departments refusing access to their accounts.

ISLAMABAD:

The country’s strategic asset control body – which controls Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal – has finally agreed to give access to auditors to scrutinise its accounts, as the parliament’s accountability arm gears up its campaign against all audit-dodging departments.

The Strategic Plan Division (SPD) and the office of the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) are currently working out the modalities to audit the books of the division, according to officials privy to the development. They added that the audit would be carried out keeping in view the “sensitivities” attached to the work of the SPD.

The SPD was established in February 2000 to improve the control of nuclear operations, and acts as a secretariat for the National Command Authority (NCA).

The development took place after the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) decided to summon the heads of all audit-dodging departments. Most notably, the PAC, headed by Nadeem Afzal Chan, has mounted pressure on the Supreme Court of Pakistan, aiming to convince the court to allow its Registrar to appear before the PAC.

Under the Constitution, any body or department being funded by taxpayers has to be audited by the AGP.

However, despite the SPD’s decision to allow the audit department to scrutinise its books, two other attached departments of the Ministry of Defense are still resisting the move. According to a fresh list prepared by the AGP, Defense Housing Authority officials are still resisting the statutory audit. Through a letter sent on September 17, 2012, DHA authorities refused to give access to the audit department.

The Frontier Works Organization of the Defense Ministry was also resisting the audit, according to the AGP documents, while the CMA of the FWO has already been audited by the audit department.

The list carrying names of the audit-dodgers is shrinking, though the compliance is painfully slow. Initially, there were about two dozen departments that had denied access to their accounts. The fresh list shows 16 departments are still non-compliant.

The Competition Commission of Pakistan – the anti-trust watchdog – is another department that has allowed scrutiny of its books, according to the audit department. The Punjab Vocational Training Council, All Vocational Training Institute, the Chief Administrator Auqaf Punjab, and Standard Chartered Bank in its capacity as withholding agents of Zakat, have also agreed to give access.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) – the equity market watchdog – is still resisting the audit. The SECP has been listed for audit for the fiscal year 2011-12, but its management has refused to give access to its books. The SECP again refused access to its books on September27.

Similarly, the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) is also in violation of constitutional obligations. An audit team met with the NBP president on September 10 but could not convince him to allow the audit.

Despite concerns about the NBP’s affairs being voiced time and again in the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, the bank’s management refused to even brief the committee.

Meanwhile, the Pak-China Investment Company and the Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund have also refused to give access to their books.

Other audit-dodging departments include the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council, the National Press Trust, the Virtual University of Pakistan Lahore, the National Database and Registration Authority, the Wah Nobel Private Limited of Ministry of Defense Production, the Pakistan Ordinance Factories Welfare Trust Fund and the Pakistan Telecommunication Limited.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2012.