PESHAWAR: Setting new benchmark of
‘fiscal mismanagement’ in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a provincial minister has
transferred a hefty amount of money from discretionary fund to his
personal account for distribution among deserving players.
Talking
to Dawn, sports minister Mehmood Khan, who also holds the portfolios of
culture, tourism and museums, acknowledged that Rs1.8 million had been
transferred from his discretionary fund as minister to his personnel
account.
His argument was that it had happened due to lack of
understanding on his part regarding the system but there was no bad
intention behind transferring amount from official to personal account.
“We
are new to the system so it should not be misinterpreted,” said Mehmood
Khan, admitting that money from official account could not be
transferred to private account.
The interesting aspect is the
minister instead of giving cross cheques to players had distributed cash
grant to them in different districts of the province.
Under the
prescribed rules, officials said the minister or any other functionary
could neither keep discretionary fund in personal account nor distribute
cash money from it.
“This is absolutely illegal. Nobody including
minister can keep money of the provincial exchequer in personal account
or distribute cash among people,” said a senior government functionary
dealing financial audit related affairs.
He said this was not
minister’s job to distribute government funds in cash form. According to
the procedure he said the concerned department or directorate would
issue cross cheques in the names of the payees to be deposited in their
personnel accounts.
“Neither auditor general nor public accounts
committee of the assembly will approve such cases and even penalties had
been imposed on many officials for depositing government money in their
private accounts,” he said.
According to the official
documents provincial directorate of sports issued two cross cheques
worth Rs1,000,000 and Rs800,000 each in the name of minister Mehmood
Khan in December 2013 and February 26, 2014. These cheques were
deposited in the minister’s personal account in a commercial bank in
Peshawar.
Acting Director General Sports Board Tariq Mehmood told
Dawn that cross cheques had been released on the directives of the
minister.
He said the sports directorate had asked for provision
of proper receipt from the respective players and its furnishing to the
said office before June 30 for audit.
Interestingly, Mehmood Khan
is one of the ministers whose portfolios are likely to be changed as
part of the cabinet reshuffle. There is a high livelihood of his getting
the ‘lucrative’ irrigation minister.
Whether he would furnish receipts of the amount he disbursed is a big question mark.
It
is also interesting to note that the minister distributed the entire
amount of money within a short span of three months, since receiving the
first tranche in late December.
Rs1 million was deposited in
Mehmood Khan’s account in the Habib Bank Limited’s Civil Secretariat
branch on December, 26, 2013 and the whole amount was withdrawn on
December 31, 2013.
Another tranche of Rs800,000 was deposited on February 26, 2014 and the amount was withdrawn on February 28, 2014.
“The
directorate has nothing to do with cheques whether they have been
deposited in the minister’s private account or somewhere else,” he said,
adding that he had asked for details of the recipients.
The
officer’s claim flies in the face of longstanding official directives
that official accounts could only be maintained in the Bank of Khyber.
The officer in question is a junior grade 17 officer, holding the acting charge of grade 19 director general (sports).
Minister
Mehmood Khan said the amount had been distributed to players and that
he had directed the relevant officials to collect particulars about the
recipients and fill up performa. He said the record would be submitted
to the directorate very soon.