ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Monday to submit within three months progress reports about the recovery of refunds from the former high commissioner to the United Kingdom, Wajid Shamsul Hasan.

A meeting of the PAC`s implementation committee was held with its convener Rana Afzaal Hussain in the chairto examine the audit report of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the year 1996-97. The committee expressed concern over non-compliance of some of the PAC`s directives regarding clearance of 437,000 pounds sterling from Mr Hassan.

Officials of the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) informed the committee that the PAC had referred five cases to NAB and one to the FIA relating to the tenure of the former high commissioner but the investigation agencies did not provide any report to audit officials.In a recovery case, the AGP officials maintained that a cheque for 437,000 pounds from Mr Hassan was received but the audit officials were not shown the cheque or relevant record.

A NAB official said the record had not been provided to them for investigation despite repeated requests. He expressed helplessness to proceed further as the relevant record of the alleged misappropriated funds was not available.

On the other hand, officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed that they had provided all the availablerecord to the AGP and NAB and that nothing else was available with them.

According to an audit report, in a mission abroad a cheque amounting to 200,000 pounds was issued in the name of the former high commissioner. The issuance of this cheque was held irregular and unauthorised because it was issued in violation of financial rules. The cheque was credited to Mr Hassan`s personal account without indicating the purpose of the payment.

The former high commissioner also drew $100,000 in his name out ofCENTO Funds. The alleged irregularity was pointed out in May, 1997. An amount of $27,793 was drawn by him on the account of entertainment allowance. The disbursement was made without submission of vouchers.

In another case, an aircraft was chartered for the head of mission and three other ofhcers on Sept 28, 1996, for 1,486.38 pounds to proceed to Blackpool to attend a Labour Party conference. The expenditure incurred was unjustified as the officers could easily move by staff car or travel by an ordinary flight.The audit observed that an expenditure of 22,941 pounds was incurred out of sumptuary allowance for the purpose other than speciñed in rules on entertainment of Pakistani dignitaries.

Eight cheques amounting to 734,021 pounds were issued to the former high commissioner from April to August, 1996, for payment to weekly magazine `Asia Voice` on account of projecting Pakistan`s activities and national lobbying on the Kashmir issue. These payments were credited to his personal account by the officer concerned in disregard of financial rules.