ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, has directed the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) to withdraw its court petition and prepare for an audit by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP).
The minister, who chaired a briefing session at the Auditor General’s office on Saturday, said this audit was necessary for fulfilling the objectives of transparency and complete accountability as NBP was a fully state owned entity. He specially referred to 18th amendment which had enhanced AG’s powers for conducting audit and maintaining financial discipline.
Dar also expressed concern over the reports about ghost pensioners. He ordered formation of a special committee comprising representatives from the controller general of accounts and the AGP offices to review the system of pensions, point out malpractices and suggest measures for revamping it. He said the committee should also come up with proposals for simplification of pension procedures and facilitation of the pensioners.
The committee, the minister said, has 15-days time to come up with its recommendations. “I wish to see an end to pensioners queuing up in long lines to receive pensions. They should receive pensions just like someone receives regular salary”, Dar remarked.
The minister in his address to the senior officers of the AG office on the occasion said that effective working of institutions like the AGP could help curb financial irregularities and ensure financial discipline among government institutions. He called upon the Auditor General to make the system of audit as effective and robust as possible.
Auditor General of Pakistan, Rana Assad Amin, briefed the Finance minister about the current profile of the AGP Office. He said capacity building of audit and accounts personnel and elimination of corrupt practices was among the top priorities currently. He apprised the minister that all heads of field audit offices having ill repute had been replaced and efforts were afoot to introduce quality audit practices. He said the AGP office would extend full support to the Government for maintaining financial discipline, promoting accountability and ensuring good governance. He said the uneasiness among the officers due to proposed bifurcation of Audit and Accounts services had been removed. He also shared with the Minister information about audits conducted by the AGP in FY14-15. He said every year, through audit, the AGP effects recovery of an average of Rs. 48 billion.
He said the AGP has conducted audits of World Bank, DFID, ADB, JICA and other donor-funded projects, winning acclaim. The number of foreign funded projects audited in 2014-15 was 133, he said. He also briefly touched upon the AGP’s strategic plan 2015-19 and said an MoU between USAID and AGP for technical assistance in capacity building of human resource had been signed. Discussions with USAID and World Bank were in process for financial assistance of USD 10 million through budgetary mechanism, Rana Assad added.
The Finance Minister assured full support to the AGP for efforts in ensuring financial discipline and removal of corrupt practices.
Later, the minister performed soft opening of the additional block at of Audit House. Revised PC-1 for this block is under process and on receipt of funds the additional block would be duly completed with installation of all the necessary equipment and machinery. It would help accommodate various audit offices from different areas of the city.
