KP PAC orders probe into irregularities in departmental accounts

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Wednesday directed conducting immediate and comprehensive investigation after revelation of severe irregularities in departments of Sports, Culture and Communication and Works (C&W) and Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).
The meeting of the committee was held here in the Assembly Secretariat. The meeting was held in two sessions and first session was chaired by Chairman, Speaker Asad Qaiser while the second was presided over by Syed Jaffar Shah MPA. The members including Syed Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha, Arbab Akbar Hayat, Mehmood Khan Bhatni, Qurban Ali and Idrees Khan attended the meeting.
The meeting discussed in detail the objections of the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) on the accounts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highway Authority, Project Director (PMU), Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) and Director Sports for financial year 2006-07 and took several decisions.
The meeting constituted a committee in the chairmanship of Syed Jaffar Shah for conducting of comprehensive investigations into an expenditure of Rs 280 million under the auspices of PDMA for the internally displaced persons (IDPs) during financial year 2009-10. Other members would be included MPAs Qurban Ali and Idrees Khan. The meeting was informed that at that time readymade food was used to provide to IDPs through contractors and during that period an amount of Rs 280 million were spent on the purchase of flour, rice, ghee, sugar, pulses and milk. The committee took stern notice of not provision of the details of the account opened in National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) for collection of donations by PDMA. The chairman directed the concerned authority for getting formal approval from the Department of Finance in this regard.
The committee also expressed severe anguish over PDMA for withdrawing of an amount of Rs 19 million from government treasury and depositing them in an account of private commercial bank and directed inquiry into the matter. The committee while expressing strong reaction to the withdrawal of Rs 3.330 million from the government treasury in June 2008 and their depositing in the account of President, Olympic Association announced the constitution of singe member committee headed by MPA Mehmood Khan Bhatni.
Speaking on the occasion, Speaker, Asad Qaiser directed all government departments for preparation of one mechanism. He stressed on conducting audit and presentation of big cases before the committee. He said that the committee is determined for guaranteeing the accountability of the each and every penny. He also ordered government departments for introduction of reforms and correcting of their accounting system. In the meanwhile, MPA Syed Jaffar Shah while presiding over the second session directed the members of the committee for attending meeting with punctuality.