Officials of AGP: Secretary Interior directed to 'compel' Rangers to cooperate

A parliamentary panel Wednesday directed the secretary interior to compel Rangers to cooperate with officials of the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) in carrying out audit of various units of the Rangers in Punjab and Sindh.

While chairing a meeting of a subcommittee of Public Accounts Committee here, convener committee Syed Naveed Qamar expressed anger over non-cooperative behavior of Rangers authorities with AGP, asking the secretary interior to take the matters seriously and look into the entire system of the Rangers.

During the meeting, the AGP officials complained to the committee that Rangers were not allowing regimental audit, saying long delay in the construction of residential buildings for Rangers in Karachi has caused billions of rupees losses to national kitty. The AGP officials said that the project was started in 2005 which should have been completed in 2009 with a cost of Rs 616.5 million but the project was completed in 2017 at a cost of Rs 2.87 billion which resulted in Rs 2.27 billion losses to the national kitty.

The PAC asked the secretary interior to conduct an inquiry on the subject and present the report before the panel within 30 days. Briefing the panel, the secretary interior said that Finance Ministry did not release timely funds for the construction of residential buildings for Sindh Rangers in Karachi and as a result long delay occurred.

The convener committee while expressing serious anger over Ministry of Finance for not releasing funds timely said that the ministry must avoid approving projects when it has no required funds. Responding to the objection, the official of the Finance Ministry said that the project was approved by the Ministry of Planning and Development.

While the officials of the Planning and Development Division said that the department was not aware of any such project. The secretary interior said that the matter was probed into and the inquiry report was also shared with AGP. The convener committee expressing displeasure over the matter said that the committee in its previous meeting had also directed the Interior Ministry to provide the inquiry report which as yet has not been shared.

The meeting was informed that Rangers in Lahore opened bank accounts in violation of set rules and regulations through which Rs 1.25 billion were disbursed on account of allowances among the Rangers' employees. Moreover the Rangers didn't get any approval from the Finance Division for opening of the accounts. Rangers' officials briefing the panel said that the accounts have now been closed.

The convener committee said that official tasks are not done in such manners and Rangers are blatantly violating the set rules and regulations. He directed the secretary interior to conduct an inquiry into the matter and thoroughly review the control systems for Rangers and other attached departments.

The AGP officials said that Rs 12.5 million irregularities were unearthed during the audit of the jackets purchased for the Rangers. The officials of the Sindh Rangers while briefing the panel said that the department while purchasing the jackets followed set rules and regulation by inviting tenders wherein seven firms applied, of which two were qualified and contract was given to one of the qualified firms.

The AGP officials urged the PAC to ask Ranger as why and how two firms qualified at the same time. The Rangers officials responded that one firm was included mistakenly on which the panel sent the matter to the Departmental Accounts Committee (DAC) for further investigation and discussion.

The panel also directed the authorities concerned to recover Rs 29.8 million from National Testing System (NTS) which had been collected from 30,000 candidates wishing to appear in written tests for the recruitment of Islamabad Police, but the agency didn't issue letters to them.

Islamabad police collected money from 45,000 candidates for tests but issued forms to only 15,000 candidates, thus colleted Rs 29.8 million in violation of set rules and regulations. The panel asked the Interior Ministry to provide a detailed report of the matter within a month, saying that authorities will not be allowed to fleece masses.

The panel said that recovery of each and every penny from NTS must be ensured. Responding to audit objection, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Islamabad police said that police were not prior informed about PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) programs; therefore, police issued tender for acquiring containers after the start of sit-in.

The officials of the Auditor General of Pakistan informed the panel that tender worth Rs 42.5 million was issued for acquiring the containers to be installed on various roads and streets, especially in Red Zone, to deal with Azadi March participants.