Audit examination of Rangers: Absence of DG Rangers, IGP Islamabad from meeting annoys PAC

ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee, while expressing its strong annoyance over the absence of Director General Rangers and IG Police Islamabad from the committee meeting, has decided to write to the Speaker National Assembly about it.

The meeting of the Public Accounts was held with Chairman Rana Tanveer Hussain in the chair during which the audit paras related to the Ministry of Interior and its attached departments for the financial year 2019-20 were examined.

The DG Rangers was scheduled to brief the committee on audit paras related to the paramilitary force but he did not attend the meeting, which annoyed the members of PAC.

The Rangers officials told the committee that DG Rangers was busy in a meeting related to the banned organization. At that, the Chairman PAC Rana Tanveer Hussain asked how long would the issue of banned organization continue. “Are you above the law and parliament?” he asked.

PAC member Noor Alam Khan remarked that junior officers were sent to the PAC meetings instead of senior officers. "We are operating under the Constitution and it is our prerogative to call the DG Rangers," he said.

Due to absence of the DG Rangers, the PAC decided to write to Speaker reporting the officer's absence from the meetings and postponed the audit examination of the paras relating to Rangers till the next meeting.

During the meeting, Chairman PAC Syed Tanveer Hussain said that letters of appreciation will also be written to the departments who attend the Departmental Accounting Committee meetings regularly and those who do not do so, will be summoned and questioned.

In the meanwhile, FIA officials told the Public Accounts Committee that it had recovered Rs114 million from government employees who fraudulently took money from the Benazir Income Support Program.

Briefing on the progress made in 137 cases referred to FIA by PAC, the Director General FIA said the FIA conducted 59 inquiries from which 800 cases were registered and action was taken against 1,200 persons and Rs1.70 billion was recovered. He told the committee that arrests had also been made in some cases and investigations were ongoing in others.

PAC member Hina Rabbani Khar said the FIA had recovered Rs1.7 billion from 59 inquiries and sought details of the recoveries made from the total 137 cases sent to the FIA.

The DG FIA said their details would be made available in the next meeting. Chairman PAC Rana Tanveer Hussain remarked that it is FIA's responsibility to disclose the total amount of fraud committed and the amount recovered.

The PAC also directed the FIA and NAB to send representatives to assist the PAC. PAC member Raja Riaz said that DG FIA should hold review meetings on cases sent by PAC every month. Chairman PAC Rana Tanveer Hussain expressed satisfaction over the FIA's progress.