Khyber Pakhtunkhwa audit flags Rs72.46 billion in unverified spending

The audit report for the financial year 2024-25 has identified serious gaps in how Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa recorded government expenditure, development funds and external loans, according to Express News and The Express Tribune.

The report said Rs72.46 billion in government expenditure could not be fully verified. It also found that entries worth Rs104.26 billion were recorded in the SAP system beyond the budget approved by the provincial assembly.

Development spending was also affected. According to the report, Rs153.68 billion in development expenditure was shown under the wrong accounting head. Additional entries of Rs20.20 billion were found in one head of the provincial development budget, Express News reported.

The Public Account showed a negative balance of Rs39.58 billion. Records of external loans worth Rs98.89 billion were found incomplete, and payments of Rs51.85 billion against foreign loans and interest could not be fully verified.

The report also found that records of provincial domestic loans have not been updated since 2017-18, while records of loans taken from the federal government have not been updated since 2013-14.

Additional entries were also found in the budgets of the health, education, police and highways departments, among others. Express News reported alleged irregularities of Rs920 million or more in the provincial Education Department.

Samar Haroon Bilour, adviser to the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa governor on information and public relations, relief, rehabilitation and settlement, expressed serious concern over the findings and called for an impartial investigation. He said "public money was a national trust and those responsible for its management must be held accountable wherever irregularities were established".