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ISLAMABAD, Sept 10: The Pakistan Post suffered a loss of Rs14,309.9 million under its former director-general, a retired brigadier, Agha Masudul Hassan, according to the Audit Report 2000-01. The report says that despite loss to the national entity on such a large scale, the brigadier is reported to have refused audit whenever teams of the auditor-general approached the postal department for audit. He had on his own declared the Post Office an autonomous body and refused to obey any government rules and principles, reveals the report. The report says that during 1999-2000, 23 units of the postal department revealed 61 cases of loss, fraud, theft, misappropriation and dacoity of public money involving an amount of Rs32.239 million.
Of this amount, Rs9.719 million are still outstanding while the remaining Rs22.250 million remain unverified by the audit department, the report says.Similarly, the department suffered a loss of Rs16.918 million on account of non-recovery of commission on provincial tax stamps from the provincial governments of Sindh and NWFP. The Post Office Department collected taxes on behalf of the NWFP government on commission basis prior to June 30, 1999 but, later on, the provincial government changed this system rendering the Rs3.113 million purchased stamps useless. They were still lying with postal treasuries as unsold and unreturned till June 2000, the report says.
According to a finance ministry decision, withholding tax was deducted from Saving Bank Schemes being sold through post offices. When the schemes were exempted from this tax the withholding tax of Rs14.141 million already deducted from these schemes was refunded to the Saving Bank account holders.
The amount paid to the income tax department on this account was to be received back and credited into postal treasury but it did not happen causing the Pakistan Post a loss of Rs14.141 million.
The mailing department also suffered Rs14.6 million loss, which the auditor general report shows as irregular expenditure incurred on printing work.
The report says that the Rs14.6 million expenditures incurred by 27 units of Pakistan Post on various works of printing stationery and forms through Post Office Foundation Press during 1998-1999, 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 were irregular.
Rs8.935 million were lost during 1998-1999 when the brigadier failed to recover the amount from some utilities on account of services rendered by the post office, the report says.
The postal circle of Rawalpindi renders services of distribution of utility bills to the PTCL Rawalpindi Region and Water and Sanitation Agency for which the two departments were supposed to pay Rs8.935 million as commission charges.
The Pakistan Post incurred Rs8.525 million loss due to retention of about 308 post offices which the audit report termed as un-remunerative. The report says that these sub post offices were running in loss because the revenue accruing from them was far less than the expenditures incurred on their establishment resulting in a loss of Rs8.525 million.It was found after physical verification of GPO Karak in 2001 that stamps worth Rs548 million were missing despite the fact that the total balances of cash and stamps had been shown in the treasury cash book, says the auditor general report.
In another case, Rs319 million were misappropriated in some GPOs during 1999-2000. Another doubtful expenditure amounting to Rs494 million was incurred on repair of vehicles and petrol and this heavy expenditure was not registered in the relevant log books, says the report. Citing rules, the report says that amounts remaining unpaid on the completion of a work should not have been carried forward but credited to deposit by debit to the work concerned.
The Rs1.565 million funds which were allocated near capital head during 1999-2000 for air conditioning of Postal Staff College, were not utilised but were placed under the head ‘deposit’, the report says.
The reports found Rs3.122 million cash short or drawn on paper chits from about 45 units of post office and a payment equal to Rs748 million was made to the Post Office Foundation for purchase of furniture and machinery in an irregular way.
Apart from this, the Pakistan Post also suffered a loss of Rs84.409 million due to irregularities by the retired brigadier whose appointment to a civilian post itself had been against rules and regulations.
