ISLAMABAD - Public Accounts Committee, at its upcoming meeting next week, will hold a detailed discussion on clearance report of circular debt, which revealed Rs 341.958 billion were released for onward transmission to IPPs without pre-audit.
The members of the parliamentary accountability body, mainly from PPP and PTI, will raise objections to payment of Rs 342 billion, released for onward transmission to IPPs, without authorisation of the AGPR and pre-audit, PAC members shared with The Nation. The PAC members might also force the chairman to fix responsibility on this alleged irregularity, they added.
A special audit report on clearance of circular debt of the power sector worth Rs 480 billion was presented in the National Assembly last week.
“This deviation from the prescribed procedure resulted in unauthorised payment,” said the report, adding the matter was reported to the management during August 2015.
The executive summary of the report says the special audit of ‘clearance of circular debt’ was conducted by the directorate general audit, Wapda, during the years 2014-15 and 2015-16.
The special audit programme was planned with an objective to examine the clearance of circular debt and ascertain whether the payment was made after proper reconciliation and checks.
Of the net circular debt amount, Rs 342 billion were paid to Pepco for cash settlement of circular debt by the finance division. The report disclosed certain irregularities were pointed out in the initial draft of the audit report.
“Irregular payment of Rs 342 billion to Pepco on account of settlement of the circular debt was found without pr-audit,” said the key finding of the report.
A PAC member from PTI, Shafqat Mehmood, has already submitted a letter to the committee, highlighting flaws in the decision. He has also demanded submission of a previous report, compiled by the former AGP, before the committee.