AGPR begins Kartarpur Corridor audit

Auditor General of Pakistan Revenue (AGPR) has started audit of recently constructed Kartarpur Corridor for the Indian Sikh pilgrims, officials told the sub-committee of Public Accounts Committee on Thursday.

They informed the committee that entire construction work at Gurdwara and for corridor was carried out by Frontier Works Organization (FWO).

Secretary ministry of religious affairs and interfaith harmony informed the committee that a new project management unit was being constituted to manage Kartarpur.

The new model was consisting of three aspects, religious activity, immigration and security, said the secretary. A grade 20 officer would be heading the unit, he added.

Earlier, the committee discussed audit report of 2015-16 which highlighted severe embezzlement and misappropriation in the ministry.

The Chairman Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) told the committee that 120 cases of corruption in the board were found and its 25 employees were terminated.

He said three gazette officers of grade 17 and 18 were also found involved in financial embezzlement who had been terminated from the service after recovery of the amount.

He said actions was taken against illegal appointments, wrong allotments of agriculture and urban land of the board at a very low cost and wrong investments from the dividends of the board.

The chairman also informed the committee that the board had 10,8000 acre land in their possession besides multiple properties in all four provinces, adding 45,000 acre land was located in Nankana Sb.

The secretary said that the ETBP was being reconstituted with amendments in its act and the database was being made of all the properties of the board. Audit official told the committee that special audit on the directions of AGPR was conducted in ETPB and 40 audit paras were made as result out of which Rs1 billion had been recovered.

On the objection by the audit official, the ministry did not conduct an inquiry at their own, the secretary replied that entire record was confiscated by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The committee directed the NAB to provide copies of the record of the different references so the ministry might also conduct an inquiry.