ISLAMABAD: Commu­nications Secretary Shahid Khan Tarrar told the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday that since 1947 Pakistan Post had suffered cumulative losses of Rs1.6 billion in frauds and misappropriations.

He informed the committee that 115 cases had been instituted a few years ago in connection with fraud worth Rs100.2 million in Pakistan Post.

Mr Tarrar said 54 officers allegedly involved in corruption had been suspended and 33 FIRs registered against them.

The cases had been referred to the National Accountability Bureau and the Federal Investigation Agency and Rs24m had so far been recovered, he added.

The secretary said the postal service facilitated Rs3.5 billion transactions per day and the system was being upgraded to end even minor pilferage.

Audit officials pointed out that Pakistan Post had raised Rs83m for a postal services fund set up by it illegally.

A postal official told the meeting that only Rs1m had been withdrawn from the fund during the past one year and Rs8.2m were still in its account.

The committee directed the communications secretary to deposit Rs8.2m with the finance division and re-establish the fund after obtaining approval from the finance ministry.

During scrutiny of audit para related to personal visits of former minister for postal services Mohammad Umar Goragae at official expense, the PAC directed the communications ministry to recover Rs2.4m from him. As per the audit report, the former minister’s personal visits to Karachi, Multan and Quetta had cost Pakistan Post Rs2.4m.

Responding to an audit objection about printing of postal stamps worth Rs10.4m by the Postal Foundation of Pakistan, instead of the Printing Corporation of Pakistan (PCP), the principal accounts officer of the communications ministry said that it was decided to get the stamps printed by the foundation because Pakistan Post had to pay billions of rupees to the PCP and the corporation had no facility of printing the envelops.

The committee directed the finance division to clear outstanding amount enabling Pakistan Post to get stamps and other material printed by the PCP.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2015

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