LAHORE: In a surprise move, the Lahore Electric Supply Company’s (Lesco) Board of Directors has pointed out bungling of billions of rupees, audit mistakes and corruption of its management and promised to put things right in the next six months.

BoD chairman Musadak Malik told a press conference on Friday that the board had noted a number anomalies in the working of the company which are now being investigated and results would be shared with the public through the media.

Listing the cases, he said the BoD had detected fraud at a bank branch of Phoolnagar in which the bank dispatched scrolls of Rs108 million more than the actual payments. The revenue office (Lesco) concerned and the bank staff were involved in the fraud and the BoD had suspended the employees from service and referred the case to the FIA, he said.

Company promises to take public into confidence

“Compounding the original sin, once the fraud was unearthed, the local revenue office quickly billed the consumers to recover the equal amount and balance book,” he said.

Flanked by two board members, who are also part of the team investigating the fraud, he said forensic audit of the bank had been ordered. “Lesco is working with 1,600 bank branches and this fraud was committed by one branch. What others hold for the company is being looked into,” he claimed.

“This is not the only case that reflects Lesco working,” he said and added: “In the morning, the company had presented audit report to the board, which had Rs1.5 billion non-reconciled entries. How could company close its accounts without reconciling its accounts and balancing books?

The BoD rejected the report and asked the company to reconcile the accounts, he said.

As if this was not enough, last year’s (2013-14) audit report had overstated income by Rs4.5 billion because pension of 1,200 employees was not shown in the books. “How was external auditor dodged in this case is being investigated?” The 2012-13 audit report had shown Rs9 billion overstatement, which the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) noted and wrote back to the company to adjust the amount against bills.

“This letter simply vanished in the thin air and was never shared with auditors or the BoD. This case is also under investigation of the BoD now. These cases show how the company was, and is, being run,” claimed Mr Malik who also promised to keep everything transparent. The current BoD took over 10 months ago and consumed six months understanding the working of the company. “Equipped with this knowledge, the BoD is now moving to set things right. From here onward, the BoD would share everything with the public through the media so that people know how this company is being run and what needs to be done as corrective measures. Next month, I will get back to the media with detailed analysis of line losses, over- and under-billing cases,” he assured.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2015

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