KARACHI - The publishing of audit reports of the public sector will not make much difference but strategic partnership of all stakeholders is necessary to eliminate corruption and to ensure accountability, transparency and good governance in the country. Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) Tanvir Ali Agha, during a meeting with the members of Public Accounts Committee of Sindh which was held here at Provincial Assemblys committee room on Saturday, praised the role of all the PACs in the country especially the elected representatives accountability body of Sindh. He observed that other provinces should learn lessons from the working of Sindhs PAC. Sindh PAC chairman Sardar Jam Tamachi Unar and its members welcomed the AGP. Talking to the mediamen, he said that a huge amount of Rs1.1 billion had been recovered from different departments and organisations due to continuous intervening and directives of the Sindh PAC, which is a positive signal for strengthening of the accountability and good governance in the province. Agha pointed out that an average of Rs50 million to Rs60 million are recovered from the departments and organisations in Sindh annually but the credit goes to accountability body for making recovery of huge amounts within a couple of years.. He said that he was here to pay respect to PAC members for their credible performance and asked Public Accounts Committees of other provinces to learn lesson from their Sindh counterparts. AGP said that the average annual recovery from defaulter departments/organisations in the country was around Rs4 to 5 billions for the last ten years but it increased to Rs8.5b in 2008 and a significant surge was observed in 2008-09 as the amount went up to Rs19.3b. However, a huge amount of Rs16 billion had been recovered at national level from defaulter ministries/organisations in the current Financial Year 2009-10 ending from July-March due to the PACs activism and directives, he said. Agha maintained that due to the directives and pressure of national as well as provincial PACs, the recoveries have been increased to incredible level during the last two years of democratic government. Sharing details of the national PACs performance, he said that federal PAC had presented a comprehensive report bearing audit of public sector for the last three years. The national PAC has also recommended action against 140 officers from lowest to highest grades. Responding to a question regarding PACs role to curb corruption in the country, he said that working of PACs was definitely yielding positive results in this regard. To another question, he said that publishing of audit reports could not bring change for good governance but changing of mindset at national level could yield positive results. Referring to a recent visit of Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani to his office, he said that PM had extended all support to strengthen the office of AGP. Even, the PM extended an offer that accountability be started from the PM House and all the chief ministers have to think about this. He said that only one institution could not ensure the good governance. He underlined the need of strategic partnership of all stakeholders of country including executive, judiciary, bureaucracy, civil society and media to ensure good governance, accountability and transparency in its true spirit. The district governments are neither above the law nor exempted from audit. Under the law, the district public accounts committees are formed but they were yet not formed in different districts of the country. The AGP office has approached the provincial chief ministers to gear up meetings of District Public Accounts Committees and suggested for forming these committees where they do not exist. To another question, he replied that he could not guess whether corruption is decreased or increased due to PACs activism in present democratic government, as corruption is not a new phenomenon in Pakistan. Without the support of political executive, the transparency, good governance and accountability could not be achieved in the country. Sindh PAC chairman Sardar Jam Tamachi Unar said that he was satisfied with the performance of Public Accounts Committee of Sindh.