KARACHI, Aug 16: A total of Rs1.4 billion anomalies have been detected in the accounts of the city district government Karachi during the audit of its records for the financial year 2010-11, it emerged on Wednesday.

The amount includes Rs601.418m attributed to violation of rules and regulation of principle of propriety and probity in public operation; Rs386m to reported cases of fraud, embezzlement, theft and misuse of public resources; Rs280.040m to recoveries and overpayments, misappropriation of public money; Rs75.520m to non-production of record, and Rs61.244m to quantification of weaknesses of internal control systems.

The audit has recommended fixing of responsibility for the violation of rules and failure to maintain a logbook and other formalities.

The auditors in their executive summary pointed out a fraud of Rs386.414m in two cases while non-production of record amounted to Rs75.520m, irregularity/non-compliance to Rs882.838m and internal control weaknesses in seven cases to Rs61.2444m.

These irregularities were uncovered in the audit report for 2011-12 of the CDGK which was laid before the last session of the Sindh Assembly to refer it to its Public Accounts Committee for consideration.

The total expenditure of the CDGK for 2010-11, according to the report, was Rs28629.285m and the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board Rs8422.800m, covering the two principal accounting officers and 1,244 formations. Of this an expenditure of Rs12968.299m, or 35 per cent of the total expenditure, was audited.

During the audit, of the Rs280.040m recoveries, which were pointed out, Rs70.746m was effected till the finalisation of the report. It was also found that of the total recoveries, Rs101.581m was not in the notice of the executive before the audit.

According to details of the Rs367.270m reported embezzlement, the audit said the amount drawn on account of unforeseen expenditure to the extent of Rs297.840m was without any justification as there was no evidence of any calamity when the amount was drawn. Besides, supporting vouchers were not placed in the record to justify the total expenditure of Rs367.270m.

Likewise Rs19.144m incurred on sanitation in Surjani Town shown from the budget meant for the development of district on work related to town municipal administrations/ union administrations, which was outside the area of responsibility of the additional district officer (W&S), resulted in suspected misappropriation of public funds.

Rs75.520m was incurred on various accounts by the CDGK and the KWSB, but they failed to provide record to justify the expenditure. The CDGK’s health department purchased 16 Electro Medical Equipments worth Rs5.945m, but failed to utilise them in hospitals, which was a violation of para 145 of the general financial rules.

The CDGK auctioned 42 plots for Rs107.002m, but recovered only Rs68.945m, leaving Rs38.057m outstanding in violation of the rules.

The CDGK and the chief engineer (project) incurred an expenditure of Rs90.202m on the execution of development schemes and allowed an excess payment of Rs24.370m beyond the scope of the work in 2010 in violation of the rule.

Rs11.057m unauthorised expenditure work was awarded for the construction pedestrian bridges to a contractor at the sanctioned cost of R32.255m, but the expenditure incurred was Rs43.312m, resulting in an excess payment of Rs11.057m, which was more than the permissible limit of five per cent.

Rs10.751m was spent on the procurement of Apple computers for schools/institutions: The CDG executive district officer (education) procured 118 branded computers (Apple) Core i3 series for Rs91.110m during 2010 without paying due regard to observing economy.

The CDGK auctioned land at the Orangi Town cottage industrial zone at Rs13.527m, but failed to recover Rs10.732m out of the total auction money in violation of the rules.