CAG pulls up London mission

Bangladesh’s High Commission in London has been pulled up for ‘irregularities, mismanagement and lack of transparency’ in spending public money by the CAG, the country’s highest audit body. High Commissioner Mohammed Mijarul Quayes, a former foreign secretary, has been blamed by the CAG for ‘misuse of powers’, like employing personal servants as mission staff. A copy of the payroll, obtained by bdnews24.com, clearly shows the names of two such persons. The CAG observed that the High Commission's management of accounts was 'poor' and registers listing the spending could not be produced during the audit. The CAG’s 2012-13 report says the High Commission has failed to answer satisfactorily to 47 of the 57 audit objections raised by the audit -- so it has asked for refund of funds spent without ‘due authorisation’. The Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), an anti-graft watchdog, has called for punishment of those in the mission who were responsible for the financial irregularities. Asked to comment, TIB executive director Iftekharuzzaman told bdnews24.com: "Those guilty of misusing public funds must be punished after proper investigations." He also lauded the CAG for closely monitoring spending of public money at Bangladesh’s foreign missions. "The CAG has clearly pointed to the irregularities. Now it is the job of concerned ministries to investigate them and punish the guilty," he said. bdnews24.com has a copy of the audit report. Mohamed Mijarul Quayes has been Bangladesh's High Commissioner at London since Dec 9, 2012. He served as foreign secretary between July 9, 2009 and December 2, 2012 before that.