ISLAMABAD - The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has directed the Finance Ministry to carry out an audit of financial affairs of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) within 15 days, otherwise strict will be taken by the committee.

The aforementioned two departments were reported to be reluctant in presenting them for the audit. Chairman PAC Nadeem Afzal Gondal, while presiding over the meeting here on Tuesday, said that no department is above the law and has to be audited so ordered the audit of these departments with immediate effect and to report the committee with 15 days.
The representatives of the NBP and SECP had been reported resisting audit taking the plea that the departments were formed under company act and they were not supposed to get audited by Auditor General of Pakistan. The PAC clearly mentioned that it could audit any department where the government had invested in any manner. Monetisation policy also came under discussion in the committee and Secretary Finance defended the policy before the committee saying that it saved the National Exchequer around Rs 129 million. He also claimed before the committee that no other ministry had submitted the report of implementation of monetisation policy except Finance.
The PAC ordered establishment division to take stern action against those departments not implementing the monetisation policy and submit report with in one week.
The PML-N members in the committee had reservations over failure of both former and current finance secretaries to coordinate, cooperate over matters of national importance, besides their failure to provide due funds in time.
The failure of disbursement of Rs 11 billion worth of cabinet-approved funds to Pakistan Railways’ and a Rs 6 billion bail-out package were also criticised, stressing that timely disbursements would have pulled out Railways from the crisis it was mired in.
Earlier, the chairman CDA also informed the committee that more than 5000 cases of CDA were being reviewed in various courts, out of which currently there were 18 cases being reviewed in Supreme Court of Pakistan, and had undergone stay orders.