LAHORE, June 26: The Adhoc Public Accounts Committee turned down on Wednesday a request by the additional chief secretary to drop from its agenda the discussion on the special audit report on the purchase of a Beechjet aircraft by former chief minister Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo.
The ACS was of the view that the PAC could not discuss the matter since it was subjudice following the initiation of criminal proceedings against the former CM by the National Accountability Bureau. The matter, he said, also required to be dropped from the PAC agenda because the Services and General Administration Department had shown the relevant record to the Audit Department.
PAC chairman Riaz H Bokhari remarked that the ACS was opposing the discussion on the matter on wrong presumptions. The PAC, he said, was not prejudiced towards anyone and wanted only to examine the procedure adopted for the purchase of the aircraft with reference to the rules. It also required to be seen whether the rules prescribed for the purchase could be relaxed. The exercise was not likely to influence the court proceedings in any manner.
He said the committee would examine the procedure adopted for the purchase of dollars from the open market for making payment for the aircraft as well as other purchase record besides the record of approval at different stages of the purchase. The justification for the purchase of a new aircraft when the old one was still serviceable also required to be examined.
The ACS said the governor and the chief minister had not signed all the documents. The administrative secretaries had issued the orders on their behalf saying that they had so desired. No purchase record bearing the signatures of the governor or the chief minister was thus available.
Punjab Assembly secretary Dr Abul Hasan Najmi said the very beginning of the purchase procedure by sanction of a supplementary grant was wrong. Such grants could be given only in case of an exigency. The purchase of an aircraft did not fall in the category. The grant was approved later by the provincial assembly. The audit had pointed out that the chief minister was not competent to approve the purchase as the plane had to be purchased by the governor.
Services and General Administration Department secretary Riaz Ahmad said business rules specifically for purchase and maintenance of aircraft were not available. He said the rules of the Pakistan International Airlines and the Civil Aviation Authority were followed for the purpose. The aircraft already available at the time of the purchase of the new one, he said, had a flying life of 3,000 hours. It had been used for 2,200 hours. The chief minister was the competent authority to relax all kinds of rules.
The ACS said that the Finance Department summary in respect of the purchase of the aircraft said a loss of Rs15 million had been caused to the exchequer in the process. He said the purchase had been recommended by the chief pilot heading the aircraft maintenance and operation cell in the Governor’s House. The purchase was made after obtaining approval from the competent authority. The PAC chairman asked in what capacity the chief pilot had recommended the purchase?
PAC member Ahmad Raza Khan said the process adopted for the purchase of the aircraft was similar to that adopted by the Nawabs of Bahawalpur and Jodhpur.
The Finance Department representative pointed out that the transaction had taken place in 1994 but was approved in 1995. The Finance Department, he said, was competent to approve the supplementary grant but the approval was obtained from the provincial assembly.
The PAC chairman said the matter would be kept pending for a month. He directed the S&GAD to show the entire record to the audit team during the month.
He criticized spending of Rs30 million on the staff of various departments placed in the surplus pool in 1997-98 without any budgetary allocation. He said the Accountant General’s Office should ensure that funds were not released without a prior budgetary sanction. He said the S&GAD should send an extra budgetary statement to the Finance Department for a post-facto reappropriation of funds.
The ACS was critical of the practice of taking up audit paras by the PAC four to five years after the financial irregularities had been committed and described it as a “posthumous” exercise. He said those involved had either been transferred or retired during the intervening period. He said the audit paras should be discussed as early as possible so that those involved could be called in to answer the charges. A separate committee could be constituted to deal with the audit paras relating to the past.
The PAC chairman took a serious view of the issuance of a letter for regularization of the excess expenditure of Rs420,000 by the Punjab ombudsman. He said action should be taken against the person responsible and the para should be kept pending till the irregularity is reviewed and excess expenditure adjusted through reappropriation.
He also called for the scrutiny of the accounts of the Lahore deputy commissioner’s office to ascertain whether the lapsable amount of Rs3.134 million released towards the end of June 1998 was utilized in the same month or in July when the DC had certified the utilization.
Referring to an audit para in respect of utilization of Rs4.7 million by the Punjab Public Service Commission on establishing a computer centre in anticipation of sanction of budget, the S&GAD secretary said that supplementary grant had been released later on.
The PAC will now meet in July.