TIB's Fact-Finding Report on CAG and PAC- press coverage 1

The Daily Star, 22 September 2002

The parliamentary standing committee on public accounts has reviewed only 18 per cent of the reports prepared by the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) since independence.

Highlights
66.4 per cent audit objections worth US$ 3.8 billion remain untouched.

CAG office submitted 770 audit reports with 16085 objections to the parliament till July 16, 2002. Only 18.3 per cent or 141 reports reviewed so far.

Some ministries take 16 years to act on audit objections.

CAG audits 22,885 government units every year.

Moreover, the crucial watchdog of government expenditure, popularly known as the public accounts committee (PAC), could not deal with 66.4 per cent of the CAG objections that involve $3.8 billion, according to Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) investigative studies on the CAG and the PAC.

Professor Muzaffer Ahmad, a member of the TIB board of trustees, presented the findings on the opening day of a two-day National Integrity Workshop at the CIRDAP auditorium in the city yesterday.

Professor Khan Sarwar Murshid, chairman of the TIB board of trustees, chaired the workshop attended by lawmakers, politicians, researchers, senior journalists and high government officials.

The TIB reports put the PAC failure down to its own limitations and the government's negligence.

The reports also claim that members of the audit team at times overlook expenditure irregularities of the audited government organisation in return for bribes.

On the other hand, different ministries make inordinate delay in taking steps as regards audit objections raised by the CAG's office. In certain cases, ministries took more than 16 years to initiate a process to address audit objections.

Since independence, the CAG's office has submitted 770 reports with 16,085 audit objections to the parliament and to the president till July 16 this year. The PAC has so far reviewed only 18.3 per cent or 141 of these.

Ten audit directorates of the CAG audit about 22,885 administrative units of government departments every year. However, lack of efficient manpower makes it difficult for the CAG's office to perform the job, the TIB reports say.

The area of audit is limited and also there is a lack of effective steps to redress faulty audits and their weak supervision.The TIB notes that although the current Jatiya Sangsad is almost a year old, it is yet to form a public accounts committee. The last PAC was formed four months after the parliament session began.

The PAC can only recommend after reviewing audit reports but there is no monitoring on implementation of the recommendations, the TIB reports say.

The PAC recommends on financial irregularities but due to negligence of ministries concerned, effective steps cannot be taken against such anomalies.

Prof Shahidul Islam MP, Col (Retd) Shawkat Ali MP, Chairman of Public Expenditure Commissioner and former advisor to caretaker government Hafizuddin Khan, former minister Abdul Matin Khasru, former MPs Prof Ali Ashraf and SM Akram, economist Dr Moinul Islam and former CAG Syed Yussuf Hossain took part in discussion on the reports.

Hafizuddin said it is not possible to audit all things of such a big administration.

Dr Moinul Islam, former president of the Bangladesh Economic Association, said the nation should be informed about all overt and covert expenditures of defence sector.

"If a country spends 63 per cent in unproductive sector, how will it provide education and healthcare services to people?" he questioned.

Later, talking to newsmen Hafizuddin, who is also the chairman of the public expenditure review commission, said all public expenditures, including military expenditure, will be made public in time. "We are now reviewing all the expenditure."

Awami League lawmaker Col. Shawkat Ali said the parliament runs according to the wish of the ruling party and its leader. "The speaker of the house cannot function in constant fear of losing his job. There has already been a precedent of removing the president and it needs only a simple majority to remove the speaker."

The chairman of the PAC in the seventh parliament SM Akram said, "Any case should be resolved in the court, not on the instruction from the Prime Minister's Office."

Referring to absence of opposition party in the fifth and seventh parliament, Shudhangshu Shekhar Halder said, "We (political parties) cannot work in cooperation."

On the other hand, BNP lawmaker Professor Shahidul Islam said there should be an understanding between the treasury and the opposition benches that any report related to corruption would be discussed in the House.

Staff Correspondent