TI report good omen for Pakistan: Auditor General

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Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) Rana Assad Amin said on Wednesday that the audit institution was keen to serve the nation by promoting accountability, transparency and good governance in the use of public resources.

“It is heartening to note that the latest report of Transparency International (TI) reflects that Pakistan improved its rank by three positions on the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI),” he said. “Pakistan is the only country among South Asian nations that improved its CPI score in 2015.”

He said that the Audit department takes pride in being the torch bearer of accountability in the country and hopes to continue its role with greater zeal and fervour in the years to come.

Amin said that the Audit department believed in continuous improvement and innovation in auditing for an effective public accountability system.

From July, 2014 to June, 2015, the department managed to recover more than Rs 41 billion, he added.

“The effectiveness of the accountability mechanism is also evident from the fact that an amount of Rs 243 billion, pointed out in the audit reports, was recovered during the last five years (2010-11 to 2014-15),” he said.

He said that the total expenditure of the audit department during the period was Rs 14 billion. Thus, there was a recovery of Rs 17 for each rupee spent, he added.

The AGP said that the Audit department enjoyed the privilege of being the sole public accountability institution, which performed its service for parliamentary oversight by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in the form of annual audit report provided by the Auditor General of Pakistan.

He said that the Public Accounts Committee was actively and effectively pursuing the objective of public accountability by taking up audit paras in its regular meetings.