ISLAMABAD: The audit of multi-billion rupees of annual secret service hashit snags as the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) and the federalgovernment are at loggerheads with each other.
The auditors have declined to accept the exemption certificate notified bytwo ex-former finance ministers regarding the audit of the secret servicefunds, reported *Express Tribune.*
AGP office and Finance Ministry official documents revealed Shahid KhaqanAbbasi and Ishaq Dar had given approval to exemptions from audit to theIntelligence Bureau (IB), Pakistan’s civilian spy agency.
Exemption certifications have been published and authorized under revisedsection 17 of Auditors General’s Ordinance 2001 but the AGP office hasdeclined to accept them.
According to sources, AGP department which comes under the purview of theFinance Ministry is mulling to challenge the amendment in the AG’sordinance in the apex court.
Section 17 provides the government power to issue an exemption certificateto prevent an audit of funds spent for national security reasons.
Nonetheless, the AGP department believes the finance minister doesn’t havethe right to issue these certificates and if the exemption must be granted,it has to come from the federal government, sources disclosed.
However, AGP office does believe the federal government is empowered toexempt secret service expenditures from the audit process.
The problem came to the fore when ex-finance minister Ishaq Dar obtainedlegal powers to provide an exemption to secret service expenditures of theInter-Service Intelligence (ISI) and IB from audits.
This was made possible by revising the Auditors General’s Ordinance 2001via the Finance Act 2013.