08 March 2005	Tuesday	26 Muharram 1426

ISLAMABAD, March 7: Financial irregularities amounting to Rs951 million have been identified in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) in its report for the year 2002-03.

The report, presented before the National Assembly on Monday, has already been sent to President Gen Pervez Musharraf in accordance with requirements of Article 171 of the Constitution.

According to the AGP report, 18 Pakistani missions utilized Rs134.178 million in excess of budgetary allocations. The AGP observed that Rs22.63 million was given as advance TA/DA to individuals by various Pakistani missions during 1998- 2002, and the amount was not subsequently adjusted.

The amount is being retained by the individuals, therefore the recovery may be effected immediately, the report observed. During the audit of the ministry accounts for the period 2000-01 to 2001-2, it was observed that the ministry and the Pakistani missions made payments worth Rs8.76 million to officers beyond their entitlement.

The ministry paid Rs8.36 million for purchase of furniture, equipment, computers and machinery without obtaining competitive rates and completing the formalities. In addition to this, the ministry incurred an expenditure of Rs3.6 million on account of repair and maintenance of the office buildings at Islamabad in violation of rules and regulations and without any administrative approval.

The audit detected a case of forgery in which the ambassador's car at Port Louis was shown to have been repaired on duplicate and, in one instance, triplicate vouchers.

It also found that Pakistan's ambassador in Brasilia withdrew Rs75,565 from the mission's account without authorization and indication of any purpose. The ambassador had been asked to refund the amount, but no reply was received from the officer. The unauthorized expenditure detected by the auditors included a lunch hosted on government expenses by the wife of the ambassador in Yangoon.

The audit noted that the ministry did not maintain any proper record to indicate that it spent Rs3.74 million on purchase of gifts and repair of photo copiers, machines, computers and printers. The irregularity was pointed out to the ministry in April 2003, but it did not give any reply to the auditors for the irregularity.