F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: Chair-man Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Thursday directed Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to brief the committee about measures taken to control the corruption in the country.
Chairman PAC Rana Tanvir Hussain chairing the meeting expressed concerns over the report issued by Transparency International (TI) claiming that corruption in Pakistan was increased in 2018-19 as compare to previous years.
“The report of Transparency International is shocking, first time in last ten years Pakistan’s number in the list has gone down otherwise it always maintained good position” the chairman remarked. He said he would ask the chairman NAB to explain how did he recovered Rs 152 billion and what measures were taken to control corruption in the country.
Responding to the quarry, Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) Javed Jahangir told the committee the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) had refused audit of Kartarpur corridor.
According to AGP, FWO replied that project was not approved by ECNEC and they (FWO) had not yet received funds therefore the would allow AGPR to audit the project soon they would receive funds.
“FWO will have get this project audited, no matter what” remarked Chairman Rana Tanvir while summoning the Chairman FWO in the next PAC to explain as why they refuse audit of Kartarpur corridor. About Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), AGP Javed Jahangir said that a fresh audit of PCB would be started from January 27 whereas previous audit reports were submitted in the parliament for perusal.
The Chairman PAC also summon Chairman Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) to brief the committee about their stance of refusing audit of their institute on the basis of their independent status.
Officials from PEC pleaded that PEC generated its own funds and did not receive a budget of single penny from the government therefore they were not answerable to PAC.
The officials of the audit side said that as per the constitution, they could have their certification audit by any independent charted accountant but they were bound to have compliance audit from AGPR only.
PEC comes under administrative control of ministry of science and technology and their principle accounting officer is the secretary of the ministry. “How come an institute created by the parliament, is not answerable to the parliament” the audit official raised an objection.
The PAC decided to summon chairman PEC and defend their case before the committee.
