ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday directed the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) to address the matter related to the unspent amount of Rs1.1 billion released to 12 Pakistani foreign missions.

According to a TDAP audit report, the authority remitted Rs1.1bn from the Export Market Development Fund (EMDF) to various Pakistani missions abroad during 2008 to 2010 without any demand from them. The amount was released to embassies/missions at Germany, Sweden, the US, Japan, Mexico, Syria, Morocco, France and Canada.

The report further noted that then-chief executive of the TDAP sanctioned the remittances, while his competency was limited to Rs10 million. The audit official expressed apprehensions that “non-reconciliation of unspent balance has made the public fund vulnerable to misuse. Further, due to absence of internal audit, the scope for misappropriation cannot be ruled out.”

The audit report also suggested that the ex-post facto approval of the TDAP board should be provided.

The PAC directed the commerce ministry to recover Rs1.4m from its grade-14 assistant for retaining an official house in Islamabad during his posting at Pakistan’s mission at Warsaw (Poland) from 2005 to 2010.

Assistant Mohammad Ali, the audit report claimed, held an official residence despite his foreign posting and a sum of Rs1.4m was payable towards him. In 2012, the official concerned informed the ministry that he had vacated the house and handed it over to Public Works Department (PWD). The estate office, however, reported to the audit authorities that the said house was still in Ali’s custody.

The audit authorities pointed out that two retired chairmen of the Pakistan Tobacco Board (PTB) retained official drivers even after their retirement which caused a loss of Rs1.4m to the national exchequer.

The management of the PTB on April 20, 2015 explained before the departmental accounts committee that according to an inquiry report, the drivers performed on and off at the residences of retired chairmen.

However, the PAC termed the inquiry unsatisfactory and directed the PTB to recover the said amount.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2015

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