Irregularities in maritime ministry: PAC asks NAB chief to give briefing today

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman to brief its members on the irregularities to the tune of Rs45 billion in the maritime ministry during the tenure of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government on Wednesday (today).

The committee further directed the secretary Religious Affairs to explain some of the observations of audit departments related to the disbursement of air tickets at cheaper rates to government organisers during Haj in the last four years and the status of Pak House in Madina and residence in Makkah (Saudi Arabia) for the pilgrims.

Noor Alam Khan chaired the meeting which examined the Audit Year 2019-20 of the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development.

The committee decided such ministries/divisions would pay the one-day expenditure of the PAC meeting from their budgets which failed to hold regular DACs.

The decision was taken following the revelation of convener PAC sub-committee Saleem Mandviwalla.

He said most of the previous audit paras would not settle as DACs had been pending since 2016-17. In 99 percent cases, he said the government had sought additional time again for holding DACs.

While discussing the audit of the OPF for the year 2018-19, the committee was apprised that the contract of security of the head office, schools, and colonies was irregularly awarded to ZIM Security Services for consecutive three years and various deficiencies were found.

The Chairman Committee recommended government bodies hire the services of government enforcement agencies rather than hiring private guards for security.

Audit Report on the Accounts of Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development for the Audit Year 2019-20 containing six paras worth Rs17.7 billion were discussed in the meeting while five audit paras of Rs14.8 billion were recommended for settlement.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022