The federal government has decided to perform the forensic audit of 10 loss-making State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) from 2016 to 2018.
According to details, the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) will conduct the forensic audit of 5 SOEs which are Pakistan Railways, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC), Peshawar Electric Supply Company (PESCO), and GENCO-III- Northern Power Generation Company Limited, and Thermal Power Station.
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AGP has also been directed to complete the 1st phase of the audit of these SOEs within three months.
Meanwhile, the federal government will hire a private audit firm to carry out the forensic audit of the other 5 SOEs.
The federal government is in talks with two audit firms, BDO Ebrahim & Co and Ernest & Young. The former has indicated to complete the forensic audit of 5 SOEs within 10-15 months at an estimated cost of Rs. 163.05 million while the latter has sought some clarifications before giving the estimated time and cost of the forensic audit.
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Pakistan Steel Mill (PSM) and National Highway Authority (NHA) have been excluded from the process of the forensic audit because PSM is at an advanced stage of privatization while NHA’s losses are primarily due to treatment of funding as Cash Development Loans (CDL) and Foreign Relent Loans (FRL)
Note that Prime Minister Imran Khan in July last year had directed the cabinet to conduct the forensic audit of loss-making SOEs.
why not include the 2018-2020 period as well?