KASUR: The district administration on Tuesday received two audit reports on the Kasur Tanneries Waste Management Agency (KTWMA), revealing a financial embezzlement worth Rs32m in the agency.

The reports, as per by-laws of the agency, would be presented before the management committee that would fix responsibility for the corruption and embezzlement for further action against the corrupt.

After the reports, KTWMA managing director and its ex-officio chairman Deputy Commissioner Manzar Javed Ali suspended Audit Officer Jahanzaib Tipu and Accountant Faisal Ali from service.

He also issued them show-cause notices and asked them to submit their replies to the allegations with the management committee.

The audit report revealed that accountant Faisal Ali was allegedly appointed on fake degrees by the then project manager Shabi Hassan. It also revealed that Faisal was an employee of the cold storage of Hassan in the Ganda Singh area. Audit Officer Tipu was charged with showing negligence in the financial affairs of the KTWMA for the last 10 years.

DC suspends two officials from service

Some months back, the KTWMA management committee had constituted a two-member team, including a tannery owner, Sheikh Fazal Rehman, and Accounts Officer Munawar Kasawa, which initiated an inquiry into the financial matters of the agency from the year 2018 to 2020.

On the other hand, Additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue (ADCR) Abid Ali Bhatti, on the orders of the DC, prepared an audit report for the years from 2009 to 2020.

According to DC Manzir Javed Ali, he had received both audit reports that would be soon presented before the management committee to fix responsibility of the irregularities on the officials responsible.

The DC confirmed that he had taken action against two suspects mentioned above and issued them notices to reply to the allegations within seven days.

He said there were financial irregularities and corruption worth Rs30m pointed out in the audit report from 2009 to 2020 and Rs2m in the audit report of 2018 to 2020.

It is interesting to note that the KTWMA gets audits done every year with the approval of the management committee. It is strange that the DC ordered ADCR for the re-audit of the previous years without approval of the management committee or taking it in confidence, as per by laws of the agency.

When contacted, DCAli claimed the report submitted by the ADCR was not an audit report but an internal inquiry report.

He said as per by laws of the KTWMA, the managing director was authorised to get an internal report done without the approval of the management committee.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2020