LAHORE: In an audit report provided by the Interior Ministry during a session of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Wednesday, it was revealed that Rs695mn spent during the 2014 Islamabad protests by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) could not be found in government documents.
The report stated that finance for the Islamabad sit-in was drawn through 30 cheques in the name of a Drawing and Disbursing officer; however there was no similar acknowledgement of sums withdrawn.
According to the report, capital administrators argued that request for supplementary grants from Finance Department were made through the Interior Ministry in order to respond to the emergency situation created by political protest.
Furthermore, audit officials were assured by city administrators that “each and every receipt [was] verified by the Additional Inspector General and Superintendent of Police (Headquarters) of the ICT police” and that funds were “utilised properly”.
However, when Islamabad’s chief commissioner was asked whether an emergency had actually been declared in the capital, he said that there was no need of an official declaration.
This disclosure ignited a heated argument between Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz’s (PML-N) Mian Abdul Manan and PTI’s Arif Alvi over the justification of expenditures
