For SESSI, audit is a no-no

The financial affairs of Sindh Employees’ Social Security Institution (SESSI) – a sub-division under the Sindh Labour Department – have not been audited during the last 30 years, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Reliable sources told Pakistan Today that the Audit Department has complained to the Sindh Public Accounts Committee and provincial and federal governments to take action against the administration of SESSI on refusing the compulsory annual departmental audit for the past 30 years.
As per the constitution of Pakistan, all federal or provincial government departments, autonomous bodies and local governments are bound to have an audit by the auditor general of Pakistan.
The sources said that despite efforts of Audit Department and at least two dozens official letters written to the SESSI officials and the labour department, no annual audit has been conducted in SESSI. “Officers and employees in collaboration with political representatives have embezzled billions of rupees in the organisation,” they added.
“In the current year, more than five Afghan nationals, including Mohammed Hanif, Mohammed Shahid Iqbal and Shareef Abdullah, were appointed as Resident Medical Officers (RMOs)/ doctors on basic pay scale (BPS)/grade in the SESSI.
“Hanif, son of Mohammed Sultan, possesses a degree obtained from an unknown medical institute in Afghanistan. The letter which he used for getting a gazetted job in Sindh government was issued by the Afghan Education Ministry is interestingly titled a “diploma”.
“Abdullah, son of Mian Usman, possesses a degree written in Persian. The medical officers, allegedly fake degree holders, were then posted to various hospitals under the department in Karachi,” the sources said.
When contacted, SESSI Commissioner Aijaz Memon refused to give any comments on the issue of audit and appointments of RMOs in the department.
“The department will also not allow the Audit Department for conducting audits in the future,” Memon said. “[And] I am not bound to answer the media on any issue.”
Under the Sindh Labour Department, the SESSI was established in 1970 for the welfare of labourers and employees of government departments, private firms and industrial workers, but the institution remained non-profitable for the workers of different government and private organisations.