KARACHI: Based on the report of the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) for 2017-18, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Wednesday issued a white paper on the performance of the Sindh government.

The report had highlighted irregularities worth billon of rupees in different departments of the Sindh government during the said period.

The president of PTI’s Karachi chapter, MPA Khurram Sher Zaman told a press conference at the Sindh Assembly’s Committee Room that he had sought a meeting with the director general of the National Accountability Bureau Sindh to submit evidence corruption.

He said a copy of the evidence would also be submitted to the Sindh Anti-Corruption Establishment to check whether and what action the ACE was going to initiate.

The party asks NAB chairman and chief justice to probe flaws pointed out by AGP

Accompanied by PTI’s parliamentary party leader Haleem Adil Shaikh, Dr Seema Zia and others, Mr Sher Zaman said that the AGP’s report highlighted irregularities worth a total of Rs292.847 billion in the accounts of the provincial government.

“In our white paper, we have highlighted major irregularities/violations with minimum Rs1 billion from various departments of the Sindh government that comes to Rs229.147 billion,” he said, adding: “In addition, we noted the major observations on accounting issues pertaining to public financial management which were to the tune of Rs229.071 billion while total irregularities from public financial management was Rs311.42 billion.”

The PTI leader further pointed out that excluding public financial management observations, the highest amount of total irregularities/violations was reported in the food department at Rs77.56bn followed by the irrigation and works and services departments at Rs56.20bn and Rs29.59bn, respectively.

He said his party was committed to fight corruption and to ensure sound financial management of the taxpayers’ money. “The AGP’s report has again exposed the poor financial management of the PPP-led Sindh government that has afflicted this province for the past 11 years.”

“Given the magnitude of irregularities/violations, the public should not be surprised why the chairperson of the Sindh Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is not from the opposition,” he said, adding that the PPP did not give the slot to the opposition because it feared that its financial mismanagement over the past 11 years would be exposed and opened the Pandora’s Box.

He pointed out that he tried many times to raise the issues highlighted in the AGP’s reports in the Sindh Assembly but always faced procedural hurdles placed by the PPP-led government. “Sadly, there is no hope that the Sindh PAC headed by a PPP MPA would seriously probe these irregularities/violations.”

He urged NAB chairman retired Justice Javed Iqbal to take notice and investigate the irregularities/violations pointed out by the AGP in the audit report of the Sindh government.

In reply to a question, he also appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of the corruption as the government had diverted the attention from corruption by creating multiple crises.

He said those who had escaped from the country after looting and plundering the public money should be brought back to the country to face justice.

On the occasion, Mr Shaikh announced 50,000 screening kits for HIV tests.

In reply to a question, he said if the Sindh chief minister had complaints with the federal government, he ought to draw attention of the Centre in writing.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2019