AGP writes letters to regulatory bodies to present records for audit

ISLAMABAD: The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has written letters to regulatory bodies to present their records for audit purposes to audit officials as per directive of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), sources said.

The audit officials will audit the decisions and tariff determinations taken by the regulatory bodies.

However, the regulators are showing strong resistance under their respective laws.

The AGP could not audit the accounts of the regulatory bodies which was earlier schedule to start from the first week of February, the sources said.

In an informal talk with media persons last month at the parliament, AGP Javaid Jehangir had said that the audit officials would start auditing the regulatory bodies from February following directives from the PAC and the Parliament.

He had further said that there were 20 to 22 government departments which were refusing to provide record to the AGP for audit purposes. The numbers were decreased from 56.

The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) is rejecting the AGP's demand to audit regulatory decisions of the authority, OGRA had stated that, it contravenes the constitutional provisions as well as the authority's Ordinance and beyond the auditor's scope.

The OGRA reiterates its stance that, the AGP is mandated to conduct the audit of the accounts of the Authority, whereas, the audit of the regulatory decisions/determinations is not its mandate in accordance with the relevant constitutional provisions, as enshrined under Article 170(2) of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the OGRA said in a letter recently sent to the Cabinet Division.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021