Audit flags Rs9.6 billion irregularities in Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The latest audit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has flagged financial irregularities of Rs9.6 billion during FY2024-25, including irregular collections, unauthorised spending, flawed contracts and expenditure violations at foreign missions.

According to the audit report, the irregularities include Rs2.1 billion linked to irregular cash collections and unauthorised private bank balances, Rs508 million in excess expenditure, Rs117 million in flawed contracts and vendor overpayments, and more than Rs821 million in irregular spending at foreign missions.

The audit also identified a recoverable amount of Rs84.582 million and pointed to non-production of records, suspected fraud, overpayments and weak internal controls across the ministry’s operations.

The report said Grant No. 48 for the Foreign Affairs Division headquarters recorded savings of Rs18.205 million against a final appropriation of Rs5.068 billion. However, Grant No. 49 for missions and other external affairs services abroad incurred unauthorised excess expenditure of Rs508.770 million beyond its Rs45.900 billion allocation.

The audit also found weak compliance with Public Accounts Committee directives. Out of 892 cumulative audit paragraphs generated over several decades, compliance responses for 507 remained unreceived, leaving the ministry’s overall compliance rate at 43%.

A major observation relates to apostille certification fees. The report said MoFA revised the fee structure without statutory approval or concurrence of the Finance Division, raising fees for personal documents from Rs500 to Rs3,000, legal documents from Rs700 to Rs4,500, and commercial documents from Rs3,000 to Rs12,000.

This led to courier companies collecting Rs955.727 million in cash from 315,581 documents through 124,569 challans. The audit said the amount was kept in private bank accounts instead of being deposited immediately into the Federal Treasury.

The audit also flagged two private bank accounts holding Rs121.607 million and Rs1.021 billion without approval from the Finance Division.

Procurement-related objections included outsourcing apostille courier services to five private companies, including a newly established firm without a formal business profile and sales tax registration, without mandatory open competitive bidding.

The report also questioned an Rs86 million contract awarded to the National Information Technology Board without a transparent tender process and objected to a Rs200 per-document transaction fee.

In another case, the audit found that an events and production company engaged during the 23rd SCO Summit claimed Rs14.470 million in excess against a total claim of Rs158.166 million. It also identified Rs12.782 million in withheld income tax and Rs3.699 million in GST for recovery.

At foreign missions, the audit said missions in Houston, Los Angeles and Chicago spent $2.516 million on health insurance premiums and $206,158 on medical reimbursements without an approved uniform health insurance policy.

It also found that missions in Chicago, Belgrade and Los Angeles used lease arrangements for official vehicles despite a federal ban on vehicle purchases, leading to unauthorised expenditure of $78,836 and €35,091.

The Office of the Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva spent CHF32,832 from public funds on litigation fees in a personal domestic helper dispute.

The Embassy in Havana, Cuba, recorded fraudulent misappropriation of $27,390 through a rental arrangement in which $2,000 per month was claimed against an actual cost of $1,100.

The audit also noted irregular payments for unapproved medical treatment and education subsidies across missions in Europe and Asia, including €20,300, UZS109.428 million, ¥65,000, LKR659,475, KZT4.392 million, $22,083 and VND90.720 million.

The Departmental Accounts Committee has directed MoFA to conduct fact-finding inquiries, regularise unauthorised expenditures with the Finance Division and initiate recovery proceedings against responsible officials.