Selective judgment: PAC ignores former minister’s unaccounted foreign outings

Directs to recover Rs100,000 from pensioner, Rs1.5 million from low-grade clerk.

ISLAMABAD:

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday overlooked irregular expenditures of Rs5.3 million by former commerce minister Makhdoom Amin Faheem on foreign trips, spent from an export-marketing fund, but ordered to recover Rs100,000 from a pensioner.

It also directed to recover a disputed house rent of Rs1.5 million from a low-division clerk (LDC), serving in Grade 14.

PAC Chairman Syed Khursheed Shah of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) hastily set aside an audit objection over six foreign trips aimed at saving his fellow former minister.

The office of the auditor general of Pakistan pointed out that the former commerce minister went on foreign trips in six countries in 2009 and 2010 without the approval of the then prime minister, Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani.

The approvals of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the trips were also not obtained, said federal auditors.

The expenditures were incurred from the Export Market Development Fund (EMDF), which was not a valid charge on the EMDF. The expenditures should have been met from the budget of the Cabinet Division, said officiating director general of the federal audit.

The fund can only be used for promotional purposes aimed at enhancing the country’s exports.

However, the PAC chief condoned the irregularity without questioning the purpose of foreign visits and the benefit the country got from these outings.

“The audit objection was settled because it pertained to the years of 2009 and 2010”, remarked Sheikh Rohail Asghar, the PAC’s member belonging to the PML-N.

It was the second consecutive day when Shah used the PAC platform to condone the unlawful and irregular acts committed during the PPP tenure. On Tuesday, the PAC did not act against those officials who irregularly awarded the contract of upgradation of the Multan Airport in 2010.

The decision would provide relief to the beleaguered senior PPP leader who has been facing many corruption cases. The National Accountability Bureau also closed an inquiry against Makhdoom Amin Faheem launched to ascertain whether he accumulated assets beyond known means of income.

While the PAC chairman gave relief to his fellow former minister, he ordered to recover Rs1.45 million in house rent from a low-division clerk. The audit had objected that Muhammad Ali, an employee of the Ministry of Commerce, retained official residence in Pakistan while he was posted in Pakistan’s Mission at Warsaw.

The commerce ministry was of the view that the concerned official vacated the house before he left for Poland. However, the Estate Office of Ministry of Housing was not confirming that the official vacated the house before he left for foreign posting.

The PAC also ordered to recover Rs100,000, from Aftab Anwar Baloch, a retired government servant. The audit had pointed out that in April 2008, the Ministry of Commerce paid Baloch $17,559 on account of transportation charges when he was posted as Pakistan’s Trade Minister in Moscow.

The audit’s contention was that his entitlement was only $1681, resulting in an excess payment of $1047 or roughly Rs105,000 at the present exchange rate.

The chairman PAC also ordered to seek relaxation from the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority for irregular award of hiring an event management firm in arranging an exhibition in China in 2009. The PPP government paid the firm $2.84 million or Rs285 million.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2015.

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