ISLAMABAD:Keyintelligenceandlaw enforcement agencies as well as other state institutions have def aulted on Rs1.28 billion payable to the Karachi Port Trust (KPT), according to an audit report.

As per the audit report on the accounts of the ministry of ports and shipping and petroleum division on Thursday, the InterServices Intelligence (ISI), Military Intelligence (MI), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), AntiNarcotics Force (ANF), Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and other public sector entities owe varying amount of money to the KPT.

Wapda defaulted on over a billion rupees while ISI owed Rs193,000, MI Rs134,000, IB Rs15,000, FIA Rs283,000, ANF Rs23,000, Military Estate Office Rs522,000 and ministry of food and agriculture Rs850,000, Pakistan Railway Rs500,000, Naval Dak Rs91,000 and the outstanding amount of National Logistics Cell was Rs22,000.

According to the report, these departments have been defaulters of the KPT since 1999.A KPT of ficial apprised a subcommittee of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the KPT did not charge Rs1.24bn withholding tax from M/s China Harbor Engineering Company and M/s Pemcon since 2011.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), said the official,issued a letter to the KPT regarding withholding tax in 2015 while the audit para pertained to the financial year of 2011.

The KPT further insisted that the amount was not outstanding as of 2011 as the FBR had granted tax exemption but had withdrawn the relief later on.

The committee sought details from the FBR and put the matter on hold till its next meeting.

The PAC also settled an audit para related to award of six oil exploration wells in Rs950 million by the Oil and Gas Development Corporation Limited (OGDCL).

The committee was informed that the FIA was investigating the case and a sum of Rs750 million had been recovered f rom the contractors.

Subsequently, the subcommittee settled the audit para with a directive to the OGDCL to expedite recovery of the remaining amount.