According to the report for 2004-05, three payments amounting to Rs 10.427 million were made from National Income Daily- Product Account (NIDA) about which the Auditor General found no details from the concerned authorities of EDF.
The report says that according to EDF Act, 1999, an annual report on conduct of EDF affairs should be submitted by the board after the end of every fiscal year. But the annual report, 2004-05, shows that the board has reported an expenditure of Rs 2,076.273 million while the statement of expenditure of EDF revealed that the actual expenditure incurred was Rs 2086.797 million.
In this respect, the amount of Rs 10,523,844 is not reported in the annual report that needs clarification from its part. Further, the detail of grants, other receipts and income generated from investments were also not reported in annual reports for the years 2003-04 and 2004-05.
About the Endowment Funds of Rs 65million, the Auditor General found not even a single audited statement or performance report from EDF. Also EDF Secretariat paid an unauthorised amount of Rs 502,000 to two advocates of Lahore and the Board failed to justify the genuineness of payment.
The Auditor General recorded an irregular expenditure amounting to Rs 4.640 million as audit fee along with an unjustified expenditure of Rs 45.283 million on Foreign Trade Institute of Pakistan.
EDF Board also failed to justify the details concerning the utilisation of expenditure of Rs 93.040 million on city development activities in its annual report presented to the Auditor General of Pakistan. Similarly a record of releases worth Rs 92.705 million was not produced by EDF Board.
EDF Board released an amount of Rs 520.156 million to various trade associations in order to set up various treatment plants but despite having sufficient funds, the projects are still non-functioning. The report highlighted that the Auditor General found irregularities worth Rs 678.506 million in Export Market Development Fund (EMDF).
The report shows that an allocation of Rs 576 million for 2005-06 from EMDF is non-justifiable in the presence of unspent balance of more than Rs 840.226 million while outstanding TA/DA advances worth Rs 22.580 million spent by EMDF need to be clarified.
Similarly, the Auditor General observed non-deposit of unspent balances into treasury and extending undue benefits while admitting TA adjustment bills. The report explained that an excess expenditure of Rs 708,151 was incurred as hotel charges for visiting foreign delegations that needs to be justified.
Further, the purchase of gifts worth Rs 1.965 million used by EMDF management needs to be clarified. Advances paid for purchase of miscellaneous items of Rs 4.981 million while examined by Audit were found deficient as this amount had not been shown by the bank in its bank statement hence this was not entered in the cash book.
The Audit found an excess expenditure of Rs 1.384 million on entertainment without any sanction as well as irregular expenditure of Rs 30.602 million on payment of salaries.
The chairman of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) as vice chairman of EMDF Board is empowered to sanction expenditure up to Rs 5.00 million but the Audit observed that the chairman had sanctioned Rs 40.994 million beyond the powers delegated to him.