Irregularities, fraud detected in Petroleum Ministry

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

Irregularities, fraud detected in Petroleum Ministry

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources had released a misappropriate amount of Rs 3.77 billion to the gas companies as 100 percent advance before commencement of the gas provision schemes, while another amount of Rs 0.157 billion was released without identifying the specific schemes during the fiscal year (FY) 2007-2008.

Auditor General of Pakistan’s (AGP) report revealed that an amount of Rs 3.377 billion was released as advance payment to Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) during the FY2007-08 as per the directive of the prime minister.

The report said payments aggregating to Rs 3.377 billion were made to gas companies in advance for gas provision schemes but gas companies kept the amount in banks and earned income in the shape of interest beside this the interest earned by the companies on the public money was required to be deposited into the government’s account.

According to the document, the ministry did not obtain specific detail estimates of the schemes by the gas companies while releasing another amount of Rs 0.399 billion. Ministry of Petroleum has released such payments for the last eight years but no record was available to ascertain the implementation status of the schemes. AGP sources said no audited statement of the accounts of gas companies as well as progress and completion report of the projects were obtained to ensure that billions of rupees released by the ministry had been spent on the said schemes for which the amount was intended. zeeshan javaid