DURING the proceedings of a parliamentary committee, the finance ministry made the startling revelation that it was ignorant about the whereabouts of Rs821bn that NAB claimed to have recovered since it was formed 16 years ago. The Senate Standing Committee on Finance has decided to seek help from the auditor general of Pakistan to figure out where this huge sum of money has disappeared. The finance ministry official acknowledged that of this total amount, Rs6.458bn had been received in non-tax revenue but the ministry could not ask NAB about the remaining Rs815bn.

If the members of the committee were flabbergasted, they have every reason to be. As does every other citizen of Pakistan. It is quite incomprehensible that an amount as big as this remains unaccounted for within the government’s accounting system. In addition, it is even more surprising that no one in the finance ministry, or any other relevant department for that matter, raised a red flag about this money all these years. If the money is parked in some NAB account, it needs to be reported immediately to the finance ministry with a full explanation for why it was not deposited as per official procedure earlier. If NAB has utilised it for some reason, then this amounts to a huge financial scandal. The NAB chairman will need to explain how the money was utilised without having been declared to the finance ministry and why it was not deposited in the national treasury. This unexplained ‘disappearance’ of such a massive amount of money also raises some disturbing questions about the workings of the government and the acute lack of financial transparency that plagues the system despite proper, laid-down procedures. Nothing short of a high-level inquiry into the matter will suffice. All concerned officers in the finance ministry and NAB who are responsible for keeping a record of this money, presently and in the past, must be investigated so that it can be determined how this travesty was allowed to take place and who is responsible for this gross negligence or mala fide action. Since Prime Minister Imran Khan reminds the nation at every opportunity that financial transparency is his government’s highest priority, he must ensure that this money is accounted for, and that errant officials in NAB and the finance ministry are taken to task. Either this, or NAB itself should come clean on the matter without further delay.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2021