Non-deposit of £0.135 million: PAC directs in-camera briefing

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has directed Foreign Affairs Secretary Salman Bashir to arrange an in-camera briefing for not depositing £135,000 into the account of Pakistan High Commission (PHC) in London.
The PAC, which met on Tuesday with Yasmeen Rehman in the chair, took the audit paras of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of 2000 regarding £135,000 refunded by George Galloway (PM), which were paid to him out of the Pakistan Projection Fund by PHC London.
The audit authorities informed the committee that the amount was not deposited in government account, and the irregularity was pointed out to the Ministry in 2000. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its reply stated that the amount was spent from the Secret Services Fund and its record is not available.
Taking up other audit paras of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the PAC expressed its displeasure over sale of Pakistan Embassy buildings in Jakarta and Tokyo at throwaway prices without following the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules in sale of the buildings.
The committee directed Foreign Affairs Secretary to thoroughly probe the matter to fix responsibility and submit a detailed report on the irregularities in the Ministry to the committee within 15 days. The special committees of the PAC presented their findings on different audit paras of the ministries and departments before the main PAC.
The audit officials informed the PAC that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had "totally violated" the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules during selling the embassy building in Tokyo. The committee was also informed about the irregularities in the sale of embassy, as the matter was neither advertised in the media nor the real estimate of the buildings was made by using experts.
The audit officials recommended a thorough probe into the matter along with fixation of responsibility. The subcommittee of the PAC in its findings informed the committee that the evaluation company was chosen without advertisement and Namura Real Estate Company was the single bidder; hence, the building was sold to it by the Embassy.
Responding to queries of the parliamentarians, Foreign Affairs Secretary Salman Bashir said that there were no irregularities in the sale of the embassy building in Tokyo. "It was completely transparent and fair deal under which new building was purchased after sale of old one", he added. He said that the deal was endorsed by the inter-ministerial committee during the tenure of Shaukat Aziz as Prime Minister.
The audit authorities also informed the PAC that Pakistan's Ambassador in Indonesia, Major General (R) Mustafa Anwar had sold the embassy building in Jakarta without getting permission from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They also informed the committee that the official who raised the matter, namely Mushtaq Haider Rizvi, was made Officer on Special Duty (OSD).
The committee was informed that Mustafa Anwar is instructor of former President General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf. The committee was informed that Pakistan had purchased the Embassy Residence and Chancery Building in 1972-73 paying Rs 1.485 million and Rs 1.683 million respectively, which were located at prime location of Jakarta. In February 2002, Pakistan's Ambassador divested Chancery building at a cost of $1.320 million and remitted the same to Pakistan and credited it to the Federal Treasury.
The committee was informed that the deal was totally non-transparent and the Ambassador entered into sale deed with buyer without getting permission from Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The PAC took serious note of the matter and decided to constitute a special committee to look into the matter of sale of Pakistan Embassy buildings in Frankfurt, Manila, Abuja and Nairobi. The committee will investigate the matters related to the sale of these buildings and submit report to the PAC.