Financial discrepancies exceeding Rs. 222 billion were uncovered within the Ministry of Communications during the 2022-23 fiscal year by a recent audit report.
The documentation states that these violations cover instances of theft, fraud, hiring processes, purchasing, banking transactions, and additional monetary issues impacting the ministry along with associated divisions like Pakistan Post.
Fraud, Theft, and Recruitment Cases
Forty instances of robbery, theft, and fraud accounted for Rs. 48.8 million in discovered discrepancies, while four hiring matters involved Rs. 2.73 billion.
Permission was granted for Pakistan Postal Services to fill 3,938 open positions, but the caretaker administration oversaw the hiring of 4,252 individuals across grades 1 to 15. Auditors noted that rules were broken to politically appoint 314 of those workers.
Losses in Procurement and Bank Dealings
National funds suffered a deficit exceeding Rs. 3.26 billion resulting from five purchasing transactions. Furthermore, unauthorized administrative interactions with a private bank generated an additional Rs. 20.85 billion deficit.
Investigators discovered that Pakistan Post maintained a higher number of bank accounts than permitted, processing Rs. 20 billion through them.
A separate incident resulted in a Rs. 492.5 million public treasury deficit, while investigators tracked down over Rs. 3.74 billion in recoveries across 11 separate matters.
Fifteen additional matters accounted for the bulk of the total, involving over Rs. 194.54 billion in violations. These audit results emerge shortly after Pakistan Post raised rates for its mailing services.
