ISLAMABAD, July 22: An embezzlement of Rs248.913 million has been unearthed in the accounts of Survey of Pakistan. The Auditor General of Pakistan in its report has highlighted the irregularities involving fraud, theft, fictitious entries in record, misappropriation, misclassification and non-adherence to government rules and regulations.

The, AGP while ordering for the recovery of the embezzled amount, has pinpointed lack of internal control and poor monitoring by the management of the department.

The report states that the storekeeper fraudulently removed paper worth Rs2,764,687 from the stock by making bogus entries, certified by the senior administrative officer, in the stock register during 1998-99.

A cashier embezzled Rs570,000 by tampering with the accounts and documents, and not depositing the amount in the public account, the report stated. An amount of Rs633,320 was stolen from the chest/safe on July 15, 1993.

A misappropriation of store items worth Rs412,941 by the storekeeper/officers, was detected as miscellaneous store items were not entered on the stock register and record of its utilizations/distributions was not available.

The management purchased miscellaneous store items worth Rs419,000 from the deposit work funds during 1993-94 to 1999- 2000, but these items were not mentioned in the stock register/log book.

The report stated that photo-papers, films, chemicals, furniture and fixtures worth Rs3,130,512 were destroyed in a fire incident, in the Murree office of the department. However, no responsibility has been fixed by the controlling authority and the loss has not been made good from persons at fault.

The report observed that the management issued maps, atlases free of cost as complimentary without any powers delegated by the government, inflicting a loss of Rs17,206,000 to the national exchequer.

The management incurred Rs126,165 loss on account of transport charges of government stores through fake/fictitious bills/vouchers, the report said. During scrutiny of payrolls for 1993-94 to 1999-2000, it was observed that the management had irregularly authorized issuance of Rs633,000 allowance to different officers who did not give training and deliver lectures.

An advance of Rs49,403,000 was paid to the Department of Supplies, Karachi, and Army Aviation for purchase of machinery and equipment, and repair of aircraft. The adjustment accounts from both organizations have not been obtained, the report said.

It said according to rule 205 of the FTR, a government officer entrusted with the payment of money shall obtain for every payment he made, a voucher setting forth full and clear particulars of the claim and all information necessary for its proper classification and identification in the account.

However, it was noticed during the scrutiny of the cashbook that the management of the Survey of Pakistan had paid Rs29,890,000 to its subordinate offices without any supporting document.

It was observed that in the Survey of Pakistan, the cabinet division was maintaining a fleet of vehicles of more than 1000cc without their declaration as operational vehicles. The only entitled officer in the department is the surveyor-general, to whom the vehicle was allotted by the GHQ.

During the audit, it was found that irregular expenditure of Rs2,546,000 had been made on the maintenance of heavy vehicles in violation of the staff car rules 1980.

It was noticed that the machinery was lying unutilized since its purchase in the premises of the Survey of Pakistan, Rawalpindi, and in the Murree office. As a result, some essential parts were missing while others were rusting. This action was against rule 290 of the FTR which inflicted a loss of Rs1,063,000 on the national exchequer.

The AGP report stated that an amount of Rs22,856,000 was reappropriated from one head to the other. The funds were reappropriated in those heads under which no authorized allocation was available in the original budget.

During scrutiny of contingent advances, it was observed that the management had irregularly retained the grant of one year for meeting expenditure of another year for which the government had made separate allocation. The amount was drawn in advance on July 24, 2000.

The report said in terms of the Revised Accounting Procedure introduced by the surveyor-general of Pakistan, it was required that the recoveries of expenditure like pay and allowances, 30 per cent overhead, 14 per cent supervisory, drawing and printing charges should be credited into the head ‘382’ of the Survey of Pakistan recoveries from other government departments etc. Contrary to the above, Rs1,505,870 was not credited into the above head during the year 1995-96.

The management of the Survey of Pakistan incurred an expenditure of Rs65,984,000 in June during 1997-2000 on purchase of machinery and equipment — photographic and printing materials and miscellaneous store items — to avoid lapse of funds, in violation of the rules, the report said.

It said in the Surveyor General Office, the management spent Rs45,889,000 on the purchase of machinery and equipment without the consent of the finance division. This was in violation of the economy measure issued each year.

The management spent Rs480,000 on the repair of office buildings without obtaining NoC from Public Works Department. Whereas repair and upkeep of office buildings is the responsibility of the Pak PWD. In this way, chances of double expenditure cannot be oversighted, the report said and added that Rs1,320,405 had been spent on purchase of office furniture and fixtures.

According to FDOM 1997, purchase of office furniture and fixtures should not be made except with the prior concurrence of finance division, the report added.

It said in the Survey of Pakistan, scrutiny of cashbooks for 1997-98 to 1999-2000 revealed that the management drew funds of Rs1,250,000 from public account in advance without the approval of the finance division. The public money remained in the pockets of irrelevant officers/officials instead of the chest.

The authorization of funds in advance to the officer-in- charge in fields is justified, but not so with regard to officers posted in the headquarters.

The report also mentioned doubtful expenditure of Rs576,000 on TA/DA of trainees during field exercises. During scrutiny of squad lists of training fields/camps it was observed that the management paid TA/DA to trainees for camps/fields period.