Audit verification: PAC takes exception to Pakistan Post stance

Auditor General of Pakistan, Younas Khan on Tuesday stunned the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) when he disclosed that Pakistan Post Office had categorically refused to audit being an autonomous body.
Khan told PAC, which met here with Malik Allahyar Khan in the chair, that former administration of Pakistan Post did not cooperate with the auditing officials, saying it was an independent organisation. "They (Pakistan Post) have declared self-autonomy," the Auditor General of Pakistan complained to the committee when he was asked to comment on the non-implementation of PAC directives by the PPO.
Pakistan Post administration, Younas Khan further said, had conveyed that being an autonomous body they had their own accounting and auditing system, therefore, they were not answerable to the Auditor General of Pakistan.
He said the PPO had yet not implemented the directives regarding the verification of different audit paras, which were settled subject to verification in January 2005. Secretary Communication Tariq Mehmood conceded that they had the problem in the past but the situation had improved after Arshad Khan assumed the charge.
The committee discussed the audit paras of Pakistan Post besides a detailed briefing on re-designing of M-4 (Faisalabad-Khanewal motorway) project.
Members of the committee demanded punitive action against former DG Agha Masoodul Hassan but Chairman Malik Allahyar Khan did not seem interested.
However, the PAC directed DG Pakistan Post Arshad Khan to extend maximum co-operation to the auditing officials and the entire process must be completed within six weeks. The PAC members expressed serious concerns over the disbursement of zakat fund and directed Pakistan Post to work out a plan to take over the disbursement of zakat among the needy.
Meanwhile, National Highway Authority Chairman Major General Imtiaz Ahmed informed the committee that around 2.5-kilometer part of the Makran Coastal Highway was damaged during the torrential rains and cyclone. He briefed the committee that alignment did take place in M-4 project whereas a new expressway (E-4) would be built on the old design of the project. Some of the committee members accused the authorities of making alignment in the project to appease the land mafia.