As much as Rs 113.5 million were embezzled out of a total of Rs 174.3 million audited from the accounts of the Forest Department in terms of fraud, irregularities and non-recovery of governments funds, reveals an audit report of the Forest Department for financial year 2008-09. The fraud unearthed by the Audit Department in Forest’s account was in the general provident (GP) fund of the employees; this scam started in 1982 and was only pointed out in November 2009. A report was subsequently sent to the secretary of the Forest Department, who also acts as the principal accounting officer.
The Audit Department suggested to the Forest Department to investigate the issue and affix responsibility, but even after the publication of the audit report, no departmental accounts committee meeting was convened to deliberate the issue while the department itself remained reluctant to investigate the matter and take punitive action.
In 1982-83, Forest Department’s officials in an attempt to avoid negative balance added Rs55.3 million in the gazetted account on the basis of unreliable register. In 1998-99 and 1992-93, they increased unauthorized interest; by the beginning of 2008-09, the sums in the GP Fund were shown as Rs 5.009 million. According to the audit report, copies of which are available with Pakistan Today, the Forest Department granted a total of Rs730 million, spent Rs581 million and saved Rs149 million in 2008-09.
In 2008-09, the report claimed, Rs76.7 million were deposited in the exchequer against the lease of forest land, but the department did not furnish any record pertaining to lease of land. The Audit Department was of the view that defective and under estimation of value of the leased land had dealt the provincial exchequer a heavy loss. The rate of lease money adopted by the Forest Department was too meagre as compared to other departments of the government; for example, the Forest Department assessed the lease money at Rs 2,000 per acre of irrigated land and Rs 1,000 per acre for barani land.
The Forest Department also did not recover government dues of Rs11.63 million in the sections of sold wood, security bond, lease money land, professional tax and others. The department also spent an excess amount of Rs 8.06 million on canal side plantation along the Ghotki feeder. The department was also accused of auctioning banana crops for much lower rates than the prevailing market rate.
The audit report further unveiled that the Forest Department had spent unauthorised funds of Rs4.62 million in Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Youth Development Programme, purchased machinery and equipments of Rs 3.37 million without inviting tenders, did not deduct Rs 1.22 million under sales tax from the contractors/ suppliers of different items, while the procurement record of Rs 1.58 million was also missing.
