Auditor general orders special audit of Rs300bn wheat scam

ISLAMABAD: A special audit has been ordered by the Auditor General of Pakistan of the recent wheat scandal, which reportedly caused a loss of over Rs300 billion.

The Auditor General of Pakistan ordered the special study on Tuesday (Sept 3) on wheat procurement crisis 2023-24. Sources explain that “special study” is like a special audit of a particular case. Federal and provincial food related authorities as well as Pakistan Customs have been approached for required information.

All provincial and regional (Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan) Director General Audit have been assigned by Auditor General of Pakistan to ask their respective food departments to provide following information within a week time:

1) Approved Wheat Procurement Policy for the food year 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24.

2) Complete list of wheat shortage, location, capacity, nature of shortage (i.e. House type godowns, Silo, Raised Platform (Ganji kits), etc.

3) Wheat production targets and actual production against these targets for the food years 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24.

4) Approved Wheat Release Policy for the food years 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24.

5) Complete details of wheat released, Mill/Recipient-wise in metric ton for the food years 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24.

6) Complete details of wheat imported, if any, during 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24.

7) Complete details of wheat subsidies provided (Both direct and indirect) along with the supporting record.

All the provincial food departments have also been provided a proforma requiring the authorities concerned to fill in it and provide to the audit authorities.

At the federal level, the Director General Commercial Audit & Evaluation has been directed to attain the required information from Pakistan Agriculture Storage & Services Corporation Ltd (PASSCO), Flour Mills and Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP). Director General Audit (Inland Revenue & Customs) North, Lahore, and Director General Audit (Inland Revenue & Customs) South, Karachi, have also been directed to collect required information from the Pakistan Customs. According to reports, extra wheat was imported during 2023-24 which caused a loss of more than Rs300 billion. It was reported that 28.18 million tons of wheat was produced last year but yet the caretaker government decided to import 2.45 million tons more. The extra import continued during the initial few weeks of the present government. Because of the extra wheat import, the provincial governments, particularly Punjab, bought much less amount of wheat from the growers. Due to the non-purchase of wheat by the provincial governments, wheat was sold by growers at a lower price than the official rate, which caused heavy loss to the farmers.