Akhtar Buland Rana. PHOTO: FILE
The federal government has sacked Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) Muhammad Akhtar Buland Rana after the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC) found him guilty of misconduct.
“In accordance with SJC’s report which opines that… Rana has committed misconduct on numerous occasions, making him liable to be removed from his office, the president in pursuance of Article 168(5) read with Article 209(6) of the Constitution has been pleased to remove [him] from the office …. with immediate effect,” said a notification issued by the finance ministry on Saturday.
It is the first time in the history of Pakistan that a complaint has been filed in the SJC, seeking the disqualification of an AGP while it was the second time that the council gave its opinion to the president on any reference, filed under Article 209 of the Constitution. The council had earlier decided only one reference, citing the ouster of a judge in 1971.
Two senior law officers, privy to the SJC proceedings, told The Express Tribune that AGP Rana was found guilty of five charges. “Yes, I have also read SJC’s opinion, wherein he [Rana] is found guilty,” said one law officer.
Earlier in the day, the SJC sent its opinion to President Mamnoon Hussain over the reference, filed by the National Assembly. The lower house of parliament had filed the complaint after a subcommittee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had recommended disqualification of AGP Rana.
In August 2014, the PAC had constituted the subcommittee to probe the allegations against AGP Rana. The subcommittee had discovered that there was truth in the allegations and recommended that a reference be filed to seek his disqualification.
PAC Chairman Khursheed Shah had presented the fact-finding report of the subcommittee in the National Assembly on August 11 last year. The report revealed that AGP Rana had withdrawn Rs4.62 million from the national exchequer in excess of his salary and privileges in violation of rules and regulations.
According to the findings, AGP Rana was getting 20% more salary in comparison with other Grade-22 officers, and under the monetisation policy, he had availed more than Rs3.1 million between January to March 2014.
It said matters of revised pay slip and provisional payments to AGP Rana were deliberately kept hidden for attaining particular financial benefits. The committee also recommended recovering an amount of Rs4.62 million from him.
The report said that during the course of proceedings, several complaints were received in the PAC wing against the AGP, including those against his having Canadian nationality and passport without obtaining prior approval of the government.
There were also complaints against his unsanctioned foreign visits, his possessing four different passports (three Pakistani and one Canadian), and availing long leaves to complete the residence requirements in Canada for immigration purposes, along with allegations of abuse of power.
However, after the initiation of the inquiry, AGP Rana had challenged the authority of parliament and refused to attend the PAC meetings.
He even prevented its staff from attending the meetings of parliament’s Oversight Committee of Accountability.
The SJC, headed by Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk, had started its proceedings over the reference against AGP Rana in September last year. Later, AGP Rana himself appeared along with his counsel.
The SJC recorded the statements of more than 20 witnesses in this matter.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 24th, 2015.
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