Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Post, a subsidiary department of the Ministry of Communication, has been hit by another corruption scandal as the Director General Pakistan Post has been accused of 40 million rupees misappropriation in the purchase of medicines for the poor employees of the department . This has been revealed in an audit report 2012 that was submitted to the parliament.

The audit report reveals that the DG post released 38 million rupees to senior officers in the name of special allowance which has been billed as an illegal act as the concerned laws did not allow him to please the blue-eyed officer with public money.

The document with this correspondent further reveals that 26 million rupees were paid to a contractor of a construction firm illegally and the Director General has also opened a special bank account for depositing Rs 19 million from public money without the approval and consent of the finance ministry.

The audit report expressed its sheer annoyance with the officers who had bought an insurance policy worth 65 million rupees without the approval of the senior herarchy of Pakistan Post. The same officers illegally received 14 million rupees as incentive from the public exchequer.

The Auditor General has termed the amount received on the basis of incentive could not be declared as a legal act.

Huge financial irregularities were also committed in the purchase of software programmes from IT companies and the persons who were at the helm of the affairs of Pakistan Post were accused of misappropriation, the report says.

The audit report also says that more than eight million rupees were misappropriated during the construction of GPO Islamabad building and the senior managmenent illegally paid 3.2 million rupees to a school located in Lahore.

The audit report further divulges that the Post Master Generals of Multan and Lahore committed massive financial irregularities in awarding a contract to a post distribution company. In this contract more than 2.5 million rupees of public money was misused.

The Post Master General Islamabad also awarded a consultancy contract to his close aide flouting the rules and causing a huge monetary loss to the national kitty.

The Auditor General of Pakistan has called upon the Secretary Communication (Principal Accounts Officer) to investigate the financial irregularities in Pakistan Post and to take punitive action against those who stood responsible for this corruption.

He also advised the Secretary to strengthen the internal control system in Pakistan Post so that the waste of public money could be prevented and the public institution could be turned viable.