ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology has asked the government for details of Universal Services Fund (USF) accounts from the last five years.

`The committee would like to know if the money collected from cellular companies goes into USF accounts or into bank accounts of Asif Ali Zardari and Rehman Malik, said the committee chairman, Awami National Party (ANP) Senator Shahi Syed on Wednesday.

The committee met to discuss budgetary allocations and the utilisation of funds of various departments under the Ministry of Information Technology for the current fiscal year.

The committee members were also curious as to how best the funds in the USF accounts were being utilised.

Three years ago, the PML-N government moved over Rs50 billion from the USF into government accounts. The decision to shift the fund was taken by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) to pay off the circular debt, and was met with resistance from experts from the telecom and IT industries.

The USF was created in 2007 to stretch cellular, broadband internet, fibre optics and other telecommunications services to un-served or underserved areas. All five cellular mobile companies have been contributed 1.5pc of their revenues to the fund, which has utilised over Rs21 billion to deliver these services to far off locations, to date.

According to PPP Senator Rehman Malik, roughly Rs32 billion contributed by cellular companies had accumulated in the USF accounts.

`How is the accumulated money scrutinized and spent? In the past it was transferred from the USF account into the government`s consolidated fund,` said PPP Senator Osman Saifullah Khan.

IT Ministry Member Telecom Mudassar Hussain confirmed that the money in the fund was an industrial contribution for taking telephony to far flung areas, and not part of the government`s budgetary expenditures.

Mr Syed asked the member if he was absolutely certain.

He said: `[Committee] members have reasons to believe that the funds were transferred into the consolidated funds by the present government and the media reported it so.

However, the ministry`s secretary explained to the committee that the money in the USF could not be used for any purpose other than extending telecommunication and broadband services to remote areas.

`The government is entrusted with the money contributed by the cellular companies. The money is in USF account in the Ministry of IT. A policy committee decides how the money is disbursed based on the need for development in the telecom sector,` said Secretary Rizwan Bashir Khan.

After requests from committee members, Mr Syed asl