The Public Accounts Committee meeting on Wednesday, presided over by Chairman Noor Alam Khan, was adjourned owing to the absence of the Special Secretary Finance. The chairman was quite frustrated that the Special Secretary of the Ministry of Finance couldn’t make it to the meeting. The committee was notified that the special secretary was in a meeting with the prime minister by the additional secretary of finance. Noor Alam then observed that the committee would not stand for whatever the Ministry of Finance was doing to the country and its people.
Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Noor Alam Khan voiced his frustration and disappointment that acting Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan was also unable to attend. Due to their absence from the Public Accounts Committee hearing, he sent a notice to the Special Secretary of Finance and the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan.
The SBP’s acting governor, according to the Deputy Governor, was in Karachi for a meeting of the Monetary Policy Panel. The PAC chairman has stated that only the chosen head is permitted to attend committee meetings. He suggested that the PAC’s meeting’s costs be taken from the upcoming salaries of the Special Secretary of Finance and the SBP governor, and that the DG of the FIA be contacted tomorrow.
Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council (PAC) Noor Alam Khan recently commented on the cost of gasoline, saying that prices have dropped on international markets. When the price is low on the worldwide market, he wondered, “why is it not cheap in our country?” Similarly, when prices are high on foreign markets, he noted, domestic prices rise but do not fall.
Sheikh Rohail Asghar of the PML-N said that the price of oil had dropped by RS 50 per liter on the international market. Chairman PAC Noor Alam Khan has made a recommendation to the government to lower petroleum costs, saying that the government and the Ministry of Finance’s Petroleum Division should help the people out.
At the meeting, Sheikh Rohail Asghar brought up the matter of suspected corruption totaling over Rs200 billion at the government-owned bank, claiming that Transparency International had found over Rs200 billion in anomalies between two reports. The Director-General informed the committee that the Auditor General had finished its audit and delivered its report to the appropriate department; the report will also be made available to the Public Accounts Committee. The head of the PAC has stated that the NAB or FIA will be contacted if any irregularities are suspected. The committee chair requested audit documentation from the Auditor General’s Office and asked all relevant authorities to attend a meeting on July 22.
