ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik faced an embarrassing situation when it was revealed that he is using four official vehicles against his entitlement of just one. His action is raising questions as to who will respect the law of the land when its guardian himself is blatantly violating it.
“Three vehicles of the Federal Investigation Agency, are attached with the interior minister,” said Director-General Federal Audit, Syed Gulzar Hussain.
The information was volunteered at a time when the acting interior secretary was trying to portray a pristine image of the minister in the Public Accounts Committee, insisting that Malik was using just one 2003 model of a 1,300cc car.
Malik is the second cabinet minister in a battalion of over 90 who is found to be “criminally misusing cars” by the office of the Auditor General of Pakistan.
Earlier, Communications Minister Arbab Alamgir was the one caught violating a law which allows a minister or a minister of state to use only a 1,800cc car.
The revelations make a mockery of the prime minister’s austerity campaign which also demands the use of 1,600cc cars by ministers in the wake of a pressing financial crisis.
Leader of the Opposition in the National Asembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan the other day said that even Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had to spend time in jail on the allegation of misusing official cars.
During the PAC meeting, Acting Secretary Nasir Hayat asserted that the minister was using just one car from the ministry’s pool. The minister, however, is often seen using a white SUV instead of using a seven-year-old car bearing a registration number of IDP 8888.
It is hard to believe that the minister is using a 1,300cc car when a joint secretary, administration, of his ministry was found illegally using a 2,400cc double-cabin vehicle and two Additional Superintendents of Police were also found illegally using 1,800cc cars.
There is “a criminal misuse of cars” by interior ministry officials, observed the committee’s acting chairperson, Yasmeen Rehman, of PPP.
“The vehicles being used by Pakistani police are not used even by police in the United States,” said the DG Federal Audit. The Auditor General of Pakistan Syed Tanvir Ali Agha said all ministries should provide details whether these vehicles were purchased after due diligence. “Systems are in place but prima facie internal controls are not working in the interior ministry,” the AGP said.
“If ministries failed to forego their regal lifestyle, the PAC would direct the finance ministry to freeze their budgets,” said Chaudhry Nisar.
He said starting from November 1, secretaries of the ministries concerned would be held responsible if any official was found using any car above the recommended ceiling.
The Higher Education Commission, which by any standards, should be foremost in following rules and regulations, is also found misusing cars in a rather odd manner.
The DG Federal Audit told the PAC that Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) possessed 20 expensive all-terrain SUVs. “The management is involved in selling their spare parts and it is public knowledge that if you cannot find spares of (that particular SUV) you can get it from the AIOU,” said Syed Gulzar Hussain.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2010.
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