The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has issued notices to officials of the Presidency, the Prime Minister’s House, and the Supreme Court asking them to appear before it to submit their replies to audit objections.
Source said the PAC had issued a special directive to the Supreme Court’s registrar to appear before the committee in the second week of December, and clarify his position on not giving reply with reference to the audit objections.
The PAC also directed the Frontier Works Organisation, NADRA, and the National Press Trust to state its stance in the second week of December.
A meeting of the PAC, presided over by its chairman, Nadeem Afzal Chan, was held on Tuesday in the Parliament House. In the meeting, the objections about audit of financial accounts of the Ministry of Defence Production and other ministries for the year 2004-05 and 2006-07 were analysed.
The meeting was told that there were 16 such organisations, which were working under certain ministries but claimed independence and also refused to let the Auditor General of Pakistan do their audit.
During the meeting, two organisations including Virtual University Lahore and Pakistan Poverty-alleviation Fund showed consent in connection with audit of their accounts under the PAC directives.
The remaining 14 organisations held that they were independent private organisations therefore, governmental rules and regulations did not apply to them. The audit informed the PAC that funds worth billions of rupees had been kept in bank accounts other than government accounts. At this, the committee directed Ministry of Defence Production Secretary Lt Gen Shahid Iqbal to present a report on these accounts to the committee. The committee also decided to declare its decision regarding allotment of two plots to government officers on December 4.
