The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has expressed serious concerns about the delay in the process of auditing state institutions, with nearly 600,000 review categories related to ministries and institutions that are still pending, informed the general auditor of Pakistan (AGP) Ajmal Gondal Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
During the PAC meeting on Wednesday, chaired by Mna Junaid Akbar Khan, AGP highlighted that the International Monetary Fund has urged an early solution to audit cases related to various ministries and government departments.
He revealed that more than 30,000 audit objections are still without a solution within the PAC itself, while the main institutions lack the basic internal financial control mechanisms. Despite the parliamentary directives, no large internal accountant has been appointed to ministries and government agencies, which leads to defects in the financial audit system.
The committee also reviewed the audit reports of the Atomic Energy Committee, the Pakistan Nuclear Organizational Authority, and the Federal Council for Revenue (FBR).
It was revealed that among the 807 billion rupees in the audit objections against FBR, only 7 billion rupees were recovered. FBR officials explained that many of these objections are related to routine expenses, but the committee questioned the absence of transparency and slow progress.
The issue of tax fraud was also discussed at a value of 312 billion rupees, where the FBR president explained that the actual amount was 68 billion rupees, the amount of 28 billion rupees of it was recovered while 40 billion rupees are still pending. FBR also revealed a 340 billion rupees attempt, which was limited to 64 million rupees after the intervention. First was registered against individuals involved in fraud.
The committee raised concerns about the violations in the joint complex fund, which allocates 40 % of the funds for employees under Article 202B of Customs Law. The committee members questioned the absence of accountability mechanisms, which prompted the FBR president to propose a separate account of GD fees, ensuring transparency in the future.
In the energy sector, PAC examined 217 billion rupees in electricity sales by the Pakistani Atomic Energy Committee (PAEC) to the CPPa. While 162 billion rupees were recovered, 340 billion rupees are still pending. The committee also interrogated more than 1 billion rupees in emergency purchases by PaEC, as officials referred to the permissions of the National Command Authority for urgent purchases. PAC was postponed discussions about the non -recovery of 62 billion rupees by CPPA, as a separate session scheduling was set to address the problem.
With pressure on the International Monetary Fund to transparently, PAC directed ministries and institutions to provide details of the financial manager’s date within a month and called for systematic reforms to survey the accumulation of suspended audit cases.
