General News
Zakat fund embezzlement

ISLAMABAD, July 4: Opposition members on Wednesday submitted two adjournment motions to the Senate Secretariat seeking discussion on the alleged Rs92 million embezzlement in the Zakat fund and leasing of valuable land at a throwaway price by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

According to the parliamentary secretary of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) Izhar Amrohvi, the motions have been submitted under Rule 74 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Senate 1988 and it carried the signatures of opposition senators, belonging to the People’s Party Parliamentarians, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, Pakhtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party, Awami National Party and National Party.

The opposition senators in their motion stated that the audit report on the accounts of Central Zakat Fund and national level health institutions for the year 2005-06 revealed that in the absence of a proper mechanism of internal control in the central Zakat administration and Zakat-funded health institutions serious financial irregularities were committed.

The audit team disclosed that the central Zakat administration paid Rs0.850 million out of the fund to M/S Gallop Pakistan on account of independent measurement of permanent rehabilitation schemes of Zakat. “The audit report says that the amount was supposed to be paid by the government but the administration unlawfully misused the fund,” says the motion, “the report is a matter of national interest and needs discussion on the floor of the house adjourning the business of the Senate.”

Through another adjournment motion, the opposition senators have sought a debate on the issue of “leasing highly valued land at main Shahra-i-Faisal Karachi by the CAA to M/S Makro Habib at a throwaway price, causing loss to the national exchequer worth Rs1.254 billion which had been confirmed by the parliamentary secretary of defence”.

Meanwhile, opposition members have also submitted two adjournment motions to the National Assembly Secretariat seeking discussion on the issues of the proposed privatisation of the Pakistan State Oil and the alleged misuse of funds by the National Commission for Human Development.

Source: www.dawn.com/2007/07/05/top16.htm