ISLAMABAD: Former Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani said the Auditor General of Pakistan’s report had uncovered billions of rupees in irregularities across federal ministries, exposing widespread financial mismanagement, weak oversight, non-recoveries, unauthorised expenditures and governance failures.In a statement issued on Saturday, he alleged that by circumventing the Constitution, 1973, the federal cabinet had frozen the provinces’ share in the divisible pool for three years while also obtaining grants from the provinces under Article 164 of the Constitution.
Raza Rabbani said the Auditor General of Pakistan’s report had exposed serious flaws in the federal government’s financial management, highlighting widespread financial irregularities, weak oversight, non-recoveries, unauthorised expenditures and governance failures. Apprehending that the funds being unconstitutionally obtained from the provinces could suffer the same fate, he said they should therefore be placed under the oversight of the Council of Common Interests. The former Senate chairman maintained that the long-term solution lay in the true spirit of participatory federalism, under which the provinces would collect all taxes and meet the federal government’s expenditure.
