Audit reveals Rs1.5 billion embezzlement in overseas missions

ISLAMABAD: A comprehensive audit uncovered over Rs1.5 billion in embezzlement and suspicious transactions within Pakistan’s embassies, missions, and offices abroad.

The Auditor General’s report revealed major financial irregularities. In Jeddah, the Pakistan Haj Mission was found to have embezzled Rs7.5 million.

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An officer from the mission reportedly transferred Rs200 million from government funds into personal accounts. The report also notes that over 200 million rupees allocated for Haj assistants’ food funds were misappropriated.

More than Rs3.4 million were embezzled from the Haj Mission’s cash receipts, and an account officer fraudulently diverted Rs7.8 million from Haj affairs funds. The officer also tampered with documents related to bank statements and financial transactions.

In Germany, the Pakistan Mission faced irregularities involving the purchase of gifts and furniture worth Rs10 million. The report indicates a lack of documentation for gift receipts and that payments were made directly to the ambassador in Berlin instead of through the designated vendor.

The national exchequer reportedly lost nearly Rs20 million due to the unauthorised stay of the Pakistani ambassador in Dakar. Moreover, maintaining an empty residential building for the Pakistan Mission in Wellington resulted in a Rs9 million loss.

The audit revealed discrepancies in the German mission, including approximately Rs100 million of funds not recorded in consular receipts and Rs25 million in suspicious transactions from mission accounts.

At the Nepal Mission, Rs180 million were spent unnecessarily and unjustifiably.

In Nairobi, over Rs10 million allocated for flood relief did not reach Pakistan. There was also suspicious transactions amounting to Rs62 million found in the Iran mission’s accounts.

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The report also criticises the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for failing to allocate around one billion rupees in community welfare funds to embassies for community development purposes.