KP yet to initiate forensic audit of housing societies

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has yet to initiate forensic audit of the growing legal and illegal housing societies in the province even though the October 5 deadline set by the Supreme Court is drawing near.

It may be mentioned here that the apex court, while giving judgment in a case of victims of housing societies on May 8 this year, had ordered the joint investigation team of Federal Investigation Agency, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) to carry out forensic audit of the housing societies operating in the province.

It again directed the provinces in August to carry out the forensic audit of these societies for the last five years and submit the report on October 5.

The FIA was assigned the task of final scrutiny of forensic audit along with the finalization of the recommendations in this respect.

The objective of the forensic audit is to ascertain the core reasons for the deteriorating performance of the housing societies and detect fraud and embezzlement.

The audit is supposed to cover the unregistered housing schemes and those registered under Cooperative Societies Act, 1925, Companies Ordinance 1984 and any other law, such as the Town Municipal Administration (TMA) laws and rules, etc.

The data of the housing societies in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa prepared on the directives of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) depicted a troublesome picture showing that dozens of unregistered and illegal housing societies are operating in the province.

The data, available with The News, was submitted by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Housing Department. It unearthed at least 29 illegal societies operating in Mardan district that till the finalization of the report had not applied for registration or approval.

The Housing Departing of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa submitted the data it collected from the districts showing legal and registered as well as illegal and unregistered housing schemes in the province.

An official of the Housing Department, who requested anonymity, confided to The News that many districts had replied that there were no such housing schemes there. He added that only Abbottabad, Haripur, Mardan, Peshawar and Nowshera districts have so far provided details of the housing societies.

He said the provincial government had not yet appointed any auditors to carry out forensic audit of these societies as per the questionnaire conveyed by the FIA for the purpose.

The chief secretary has also taken serious note of the delay in the collection of relevant data on the housing schemes and appointment of the auditors to carry out the forensic audit of these hosing facilities. The chief secretary’s office on September 14 through a letter directed all the deputy commissioners (DCs) to complete the task by October 5.

The Local Government, Elections and Rural Development Department issued instructions to the TMOs on September 15 to coordinate with the DCs so that the auditors could be notified and audit could be completed.

It urged the officers concerned that being a court matter they should keep in view the urgency of the matter and observe the time-line of October 5 for the completion of the task.

It also made clear to the officers that the cost of hiring of the auditors to conduct the forensic audit of the housing societies will be borne by the owners of all such societies.