USC audit detects corruption, irregularities worth billions of rupees

LAHORE: Corruption and irregularities worth billions of rupees have been detected in the audit of the Utility Stores Corporation (USC) Pakistan.

Auditor General of Pakistan sources said that forensic audit of the USC accounts had been completed and irregularities and corruption of billions of rupees had been detected. The audit found corruption in purchase of daily-use items. A large number of substandard items were purchased at exorbitant rates, the AG sources said. The report would be submitted to the president of Pakistan, added the sources.

According to the local media, the USC audit report found irregularities worth Rs14 billion in purchase of flour, sugar and other items. The audit report released by the Auditor General’s team of the Utility Stores Corporation for the year 2019-20 identified irregularities of more than Rs14 billion.

A loss of Rs2.6 billion was revealed in the sale and purchase of sugar and flour. The USC incurred a loss of Rs150 million on buying expensive sugar from defaulting sugar mills while millions of rupees were wasted in buying substandard flour from mills. According to sources, the USC management committed fraud in the purchase of wheat and flour with the connivance of flour mills, while the audit report also pointed out corruption of Rs320 million in the purchase of various other items. Sources said the audit showed that the USC had reached the verge of destruction due to large-scale corruption.