Sindh Govt Accused of Rs. 9.2 Billion Fraud in Audit Report

A recent audit report has revealed that the Government of Sindh is allegedly involved in fraud and embezzlement worth Rs. 9.24 billion.

The scandal was highlighted in an audit report for the year 2020-21 and the special audit report of the provincial ombudsman from 2008-9 to 2018-19. The report was presented by the Director-General of the Sindh Audit, Miandad Rahoojo, to the Governor of Sindh, Imran Ismail, during a meeting at his office on Tuesday.

Rahoojo apprised the governor that the provincial government has utilized only Rs. 90 billion out of Rs. 289 billion that had been allocated for the annual development program (ADP) for the fiscal year 2020-21, which has been the ‘lowest’ utilization in the last three years. Similarly, it had used only a little over Rs. 894 billion (68 percent) of the planned annual budget of Rs. 1.3 trillion.


ALSO READ

Cabinet Approves Draft of SBP Amendment Bill 2021


The audit report detailed that the provincial government has committed alleged irregularities, fraud, and mismanagement of Rs. 9.24 billion during the said period. It provided a breakdown of the irregularities in different segments, according to which, irregularities worth Rs. 5.2 billion had been committed in the HR/employees-related departments, over Rs. 4.19 billion in procurements, over Rs. 1.72 billion in connection with the management of accounts with commercial banks, over Rs. 0.31 billion in relation to the delivery of services, and over Rs. 0.12 billion in other irregularities.

The Government of Sindh has reportedly failed to provide the record of the billions of rupees in question for scrutiny.


ALSO READ

Pakistan’s Population to Cross 242 Million by 2025


The report also identified the matter of the release of the year-end budget resulting in a rush of expenditure at the end of June, further causing multiple deviations from the procedure of spending.

Departure from the procedures resulted in non-transparent, un-economical expenditure due to violations of SPPRA rules and blockage of govt funds due to unjustified and irregular advance payments to avoid lapse of funds.

Meanwhile, Governor Ismail remarked during the meeting that the effective management of audit is essential to maintaining transparency in government agencies and projects.

“Corruption can be curbed by identifying waste and misappropriation of public funds,” he stated.



Get Alerts

Follow ProPakistani to get latest news and updates.


ProPakistani Community

Join the groups below to get latest news and updates.



>