Auditor General’s Report Reveals Astonishing Financial Irregularities

ISLAMABAD: A recent report by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) regarding the federal government’s financial records has caused considerable concern, primarily due to the immense figures cited and the methods used to arrive at them.

The AGP’s report highlighted irregularities totaling an astounding Rs375 trillion in federal accounts. To put this in perspective, that is Rs375,000 billion.

Given that Pakistan’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) hovers around Rs110 trillion and the federal budget for FY2023-24 was just Rs14.5 trillion, questions arise as to how irregularities could reach a sum 27 times greater than the national budget.

The report detailed significant issues, including Rs284.17 trillion (Rs284,000 billion) linked to problems with procurement, Rs85.6 trillion (Rs85,600 billion) attributed to wasteful expenditure on flawed, postponed, or unfinished construction projects and Rs2.5 trillion (Rs2,500 billion) blocked in receivables and pending recoveries, along with Rs1.2 trillion (Rs1,200 billion) in unresolved circular debt. Furthermore, billions were lost through weak internal oversight, inadequate asset administration, contract mismanagement, and illegal occupation of government properties.

These figures create an impression of Pakistan managing the finances of numerous nations. However, the reality suggests either a grave accounting error, a severe crisis in the accuracy of national financial records and audits, or a systemic failure of the nation’s financial system.

Notably, the appropriation accounts indicated a final allocation of Rs40.3 trillion (Rs40,000 billion), with actual expenses amounting to Rs39.9 trillion (Rs39,900 billion). This represents a relatively small variance of Rs370 billion, yet it somehow escalated into irregularities valued at Rs375 trillion.

Many individuals, even within the government, find the calculations illogical, and the report seems to create more confusion than clarity.

Key questions are being raised: Did the AGP miscalculate the figures? Were cumulative figures incorrectly applied across numerous years? Or does this reflect the collapse of financial oversight where numbers no longer reflect reality?

An AGP office spokesperson, when contacted, shared insights from an expert via a voice note, indicating that the AGP office was not surprised by the exceptionally high figures of irregularities.

The AGP office communicated that diverse types of violations, irregularities, misappropriations, and non-compliance with financial regulations from allocation to expenditure can surpass the total budget.

However, it remained unclear how these irregularities reached the extraordinary sum of Rs375,000 billion.

All these statistics are part of the Audit Year 2024-25 published report, endorsed by the president, and ready for presentation to parliament.