Pakistan frontrunner in most-corrupt race

Supporting the claims of the opposition as well as national and international watchdogs, the comparison of the audit reports of first two financial years – 2008-09 and 2009-10 of the PPP-led coalition reveals that not only corruption continues unabated, it has also alarmingly increased 35 times in various federal ministries and divisions in just one year.
The audit report 2009-10 on the accounts of 26 federal ministries/divisions for the financial year 2008-09 – the first fiscal year of the PPP government – points out embezzlement amounting to Rs 69.62 million while corruption through embezzling public money soared to Rs 2,407.72 million when the Auditor General of Pakistan audited accounts of the same ministries/divisions for the financial year 2009-10 – the second fiscal year of the government – for compiling the audit report 2010-11.
The embezzlement of Rs 2,407.72 million from the accounts of various ministries in FY 2009-10, which is 35 times more than the amount embezzled in the first financial year 2008-09 of the PPP-led coalition government, does not include the accounts of public sector enterprises (PSEs) which fall under the purview of these ministries.
The embezzlement done from the accounts of the Defence Services, Pakistan Railways, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is also not part of the embezzled amount of Rs 2,407.72 million. Audit Report 2009-10 on the accounts of federal government (Civil) for the financial year 2008-09 had revealed embezzlement of public money and fictitious/fudged payments amounting to Rs 69.62 million in five cases.
In the financial year 2008-09, embezzlement cases had appeared in the ministries of Commerce, Health, Interior and the FATA Secretariat.
In the government’s first financial year 2008-09, one case of embezzlement amounting to Rs 24.05 million was detected in the Ministry of Commerce. The National Tariff Commission (NTC) under the Ministry of Commerce maintained lapsable Personal Ledger Account (PLA) with the Federal Territory Office (FTO) Islamabad until December 2008 and an assignment account from January 2009 to June 2009. The audit observed an embezzlement of public money amounting to Rs 24.05 million during the FY 2000-01 to FY 2008-09. In FY 2008-09, two separate cases of embezzlement amounting to Rs 35.02 and Rs 8.62 million were detected in the FATA Secretariat.
The audit report 2009-10 had also exposed one case of embezzlement amounting to Rs 1.36 million in the Health Ministry.
The latest audit report, Audit Report 2010-11, on the accounts of the federal government (Civil) for the financial year 2009-10 says that there were 11 cases of embezzlement of public money and fictitious/fudged payments amounting to Rs 2,407.72 million. In the financial year 2009-10, embezzlement cases appeared in the ministries of Culture, Education, Food and Agriculture, Interior, Ports and Shipping, Religious Affairs and FATA Secretariat.
The audit report 2010-11 points out one case of fudged payment of Rs 92.05 million in the Culture Ministry while it reveals fraudulent payment of Rs 11.36 million for construction of 10 schools by the National Education Foundation (NEF), the subsidiary of the Education Ministry.
The FATA Secretariat officials embezzled a total Rs 38.82 million in two separate cases in FY 2009-10. As many as Rs 7.14 million were embezzled from the World Food Programme’s funded project Promoting Safe Motherhood, while Rs 31.68 million were embezzled from the accounts of the Khyber Agency Highway Division.
The audit report 2010-11 points out non-transparent award of contract amounting to Rs 1,300 million by the Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Ports and Shipping Ministry for removal of concrete structure of collapsed berths. It also reveals irregular payment of Rs 952.61 million for dredging and reclamation works without measurement.
Commenting on the rise in embezzlement in the ministries, PML-N central leader and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) member Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said if the amount embezzled in public sector enterprises was included in the Rs 2,407.72 million, there would be a 350 times increase in corruption in one year.
“Now it is the test of the PAC and its members, who belong to both the treasury and the opposition benches, to recover this amount which was embezzled in the sitting government’s regime,” he said.
Sadiq said the PAC would soon start reviewing the government’s audit paragraphs pertaining to financial years 2008-09 and 2009-10.