PAC has so far recovered Rs480 bn: Rana Tanveer

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Public Accounts Committee Rana Tanveer Hussain on Thursday claimed that hurdles were being created deliberately in the functioning of the committee.

“The chairman NAB is not appearing in the sub-committee of the PAC despite repeated summons while the speaker National Assembly has sent a message of not taking up the matter of Rs118 billion between a local bank and Pakistan Post,” he said while chairing a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday.

Talking to the media after the PAC meeting, Rana Tanveer said the chairman NAB has to give an answer on expenditures of NAB being the Principal Accounting Officer of the bureau. He said an extension should not be given to the chairman NAB on the completion of his tenure. “If the extension is given to the chairman NAB, then he will have to appear before the PAC,” he said.

The PAC chairman said the Transparency International has raised questions on the transparency of the contract between the local bank and Pakistan Post. “We wanted that the matter should be examined but the NA speaker sent a note that this matter should not be taken up,” he said. He said the speaker National Assembly could not do it legally.

“We want to see if this agreement between the local bank and Pakistan Post was right or not and if the agreement was not transparent, then those who were responsible will be made accountable,” he said.

Rana Tanveer said the PAC has so far recovered Rs480 billion. “We have no competition with the NAB as they have more powers,” he said. Earlier, the meeting of the PAC was held with the chair of its Chairman Rana Tanveer Hussain in which the audit para related to the Commerce Ministry for the year 2018-19 and the audit report for the year 2019-20 were examined.

The PAC was informed that Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood has been infected with coronavirus and the secretary commerce has quarantined himself. The chairman PAC took notice of not holding the Departmental Accounting Committees of different Ministries and Divisions and remarked that hurdles were created in the way of the committee functioning. He said the sub-committee of the PAC, headed by Noor Alam Khan, has repeatedly summoning the chairman NAB but he was not appearing before the committee.

PAC member Senator Sherry Rehman said no officials of the Presidency replied to the audit objections on the audit report of the Presidency. “Not a single meeting of the Department Accounting Committee was held on the audit objections on the expenditure of the Presidency,” she told the committee.

While examining the audit objection, the audit officials told the committee that the Trading Corporation of Pakistan has to recover over Rs four billion from the sugar mills. The chairman Trading Corporation of Pakistan told the committee that this matter was lying with the NAB. He told the committee Trading Corporation of Pakistan has to make recovery from Hasseb Waqas Sugar Mill, Seri Sugar Mill, Tandu Muhammad Khan Sugar Mill and Tandianwala Sugar Mill and these mills bought cheap sugar and instead of providing it to the Utility Stores, kept it in their stores and when the sugar prices rose, then they sold the commodity in the market.

Examining the audit para relating to building of the State Life Insurance, the audit officials told the committee that delay in the construction of the State Life building in Islamabad caused a loss of Rs820 million. The additional secretary commerce said that the building plan had to be changed due to the refusal of the SNGPL to supply gas. The PAC directed to take the matter to the departmental accounts committee.