LAHORE: Southern Punjab’s local government institutions have been found to be embroiled in significant financial irregularities amounting to billions of rupees, according to the Auditor General of Pakistan’s report for the fiscal year 2022-23, which was made public on Saturday.
The audit covered 128 local government institutions across the region, uncovering widespread issues including missing financial records, procedural violations, and pension-related discrepancies. A major finding highlighted the absence of Rs12.87 billion worth of financial records in 53 cases, which were not produced for the audit. Additionally, Rs9.14 billion in procedural irregularities were identified in 368 cases, and a staggering Rs101.42 billion in other financial issues were flagged across 472 cases.
The report also uncovered fraud and misappropriation amounting to Rs14.2 million in three cases and pension-related irregularities involving Rs95.8 million in another three cases.
A key concern raised by the audit was the lack of effective internal controls within these institutions. The report noted that several districts in southern Punjab lacked functioning internal audit departments, with mismanagement and negligence cited as the primary contributors to the financial lapses.
While audit teams reported recoveries exceeding Rs7.1 billion, only Rs114.5 million of the recovered amount could be verified.
The audit report issued a series of directives to Principal Accounting Officers (PAOs) to address the irregularities, which include producing the missing records, taking action against officials responsible for their non-production, and conducting investigations into fraud, misappropriation, and wasteful expenditure.
PAOs were also instructed to expedite the recovery of government receipts, investigate cases of unauthorized use of administrative and financial powers, and ensure compliance with Punjab Procurement Rules for all purchases.
In order to prevent further financial irregularities, the report recommended that local governments establish robust internal control systems and put effective monitoring mechanisms in place. Additionally, the report stressed the importance of submitting life certificates for pensioners and no remarriage certificates for family pension cases.
