CAG detects financial irregularities in Biman
Thursday, 24 September 2009
Sheikh Shahariar Zaman
The office of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has raised seven objections involving over Tk 172 million in the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry which is mired in allegations of corruption and irregularities.
It raised the objections while auditing the accounts on a random basis of fiscal year 2005-06 when the BNP-Jamaat-led alliance government was in power.
The audit reports placed in Parliament recently unearthed massive irregularities in purchasing materials and paying traveling allowance (TA) and dearness allowance (DA) to the officials of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the national flag carrier.
The unscrupulous officials of the carrier paid Tk 67 million to its suppliers through cash and letter of credit to buy different materials but the materials were not found in the warehouse, the report said.
When the CAG audit team inquired about the irregularities, the local Biman office refrained from making any reply.
The CAG office recommended that the misused money should be realised from the dishonest officials and in February last year it issued a letter to the civil aviation secretary to take action against the corrupt officials but the top bureaucrat also refrained from making any response.
The audit committee also found out that Biman officials siphoned off Tk 58.6 million in the name of TA and DA from 2000 to 2005.
The authority had taken action against accounts supervisors Mohammad Harunur Rashid and Golam Mostafa when the audit committee brought this to the notice of the Biman and through a letter informed the CAG office that it recovered Tk 33,897 from an accounts supervisor.
The CAG office in the report said the whole amount should be recovered from the dishonest officials and it sent a letter in February last year to the civil aviation secretary to take action against the officials.
The ministry is yet to take any action against the unscrupulous officials.
The national flag carrier has been making loss for years due to inefficiency and mismanagement and undue interference from the ministry, the CAG performance report said.
The carrier is facing serious image problems as it is unable to give scheduled service and it grounds its planes very often without any prior notice, the report added.
The passengers, fed up with the service, become inclined to foreign carriers as there is no improvement in the service of the Biman.
The national flag carrier does not have any strategic plan and its vision and mission are not clearly defined, the report lamented.
The carrier fails to make cost-benefit analysis in all its investment from buying an aircraft to providing maintenance service.
The Biman authority also does not have any financial plan and budgetary control and this makes internal control difficult.
The officials of Biman also have a tendency to overspend as there is no effective internal control mechanism and this leads to corruption, the report said.
Citing an example, the report said in 2002-03 on an average passengers increased by 8.0 per cent but purchase of disposable items, which are directly related to the number of passengers, increased by 20 per cent.
The Biman authority also maintained the same rate of purchase even though the number of passengers fell in 2003-04 and 2004-05 fiscals.
The office of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has raised seven objections involving over Tk 172 million in the Civil Aviation and Tourism Ministry which is mired in allegations of corruption and irregularities.
It raised the objections while auditing the accounts on a random basis of fiscal year 2005-06 when the BNP-Jamaat-led alliance government was in power.
The audit reports placed in Parliament recently unearthed massive irregularities in purchasing materials and paying traveling allowance (TA) and dearness allowance (DA) to the officials of Biman Bangladesh Airlines, the national flag carrier.
The unscrupulous officials of the carrier paid Tk 67 million to its suppliers through cash and letter of credit to buy different materials but the materials were not found in the warehouse, the report said.
When the CAG audit team inquired about the irregularities, the local Biman office refrained from making any reply.
The CAG office recommended that the misused money should be realised from the dishonest officials and in February last year it issued a letter to the civil aviation secretary to take action against the corrupt officials but the top bureaucrat also refrained from making any response.
The audit committee also found out that Biman officials siphoned off Tk 58.6 million in the name of TA and DA from 2000 to 2005.
The authority had taken action against accounts supervisors Mohammad Harunur Rashid and Golam Mostafa when the audit committee brought this to the notice of the Biman and through a letter informed the CAG office that it recovered Tk 33,897 from an accounts supervisor.
The CAG office in the report said the whole amount should be recovered from the dishonest officials and it sent a letter in February last year to the civil aviation secretary to take action against the officials.
The ministry is yet to take any action against the unscrupulous officials.
The national flag carrier has been making loss for years due to inefficiency and mismanagement and undue interference from the ministry, the CAG performance report said.
The carrier is facing serious image problems as it is unable to give scheduled service and it grounds its planes very often without any prior notice, the report added.
The passengers, fed up with the service, become inclined to foreign carriers as there is no improvement in the service of the Biman.
The national flag carrier does not have any strategic plan and its vision and mission are not clearly defined, the report lamented.
The carrier fails to make cost-benefit analysis in all its investment from buying an aircraft to providing maintenance service.
The Biman authority also does not have any financial plan and budgetary control and this makes internal control difficult.
The officials of Biman also have a tendency to overspend as there is no effective internal control mechanism and this leads to corruption, the report said.
Citing an example, the report said in 2002-03 on an average passengers increased by 8.0 per cent but purchase of disposable items, which are directly related to the number of passengers, increased by 20 per cent.
The Biman authority also maintained the same rate of purchase even though the number of passengers fell in 2003-04 and 2004-05 fiscals.