Parliamentary secretaries’ housing allowance against rules: AG

The auditor general has objected to the payment of housing allowance given to the parliamentary secretaries terming it against the rules, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

According to the auditor general report available with the 24NewsHD on Tuesday, the AG opposed the idea of housing allowance payment to the parliamentary secretaries and dubbed it against the rules. 

According to the report, Rs334 million were paid under the head of housing allowance to parliamentary secretaries. The AG recommended to stop the housing allowance. He also suggested recovering the already issued housing allowances from the secretaries. So far, 126 payments have been made under this head by the ministry of parliamentary affairs.

The auditor general has pointed to the colossal mismanagement in the affairs of the Federal Board of Revenue that has caused a whopping loss of Rs80 billion to the national kitty thanks to the flaws found in the self-assessment scheme.

According to the documents, due to the bungling in the FBR affairs, the national exchequer has suffered a loss to the tune of billions of rupees. The faults in the self-assessment scheme caused a loss of Rs80 billion.

The AG pointed out that the FBR eschewed the withholding of income tax of Rs31 billion. A loss of Rs6.54 billion has been caused due to errors in the assessment evaluation of the imported goods.

The documents revealed since the FBR did not dispose of cases regarding the confiscated vehicles and other articles, it caused a loss of Rs3.15 billion.

They also divulged that the FBR released Rs1 billion worth of refunds illegally. The national exchequer suffered a loss of Rs480 million when the FBR released tax refunds twice.

According to the documents, due to blunders in the self-assessment scheme, sales tax to the tune of Rs1.51 billion got wasted. The shortcomings in the FASTER system caused a loss of Rs650 million.

Reporters, Waqas Azeem, Awais Kiyani