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.

Nurul Islam Hasibbdnews24.com
Published : 17 April 2014, 06:04 AM
Updated : 17 April 2014, 02:53 PM

High Commissioner Mohamed 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.

File photo: Mohamed Mijarul Quayes

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 ministries concerned to investigate them and punish the guilty," he said.

bdnews24.com has a copy of the audit report.

Mijarul Quayes has been Bangladesh's High Commissioner in London since Dec 9, 2012.

He served as foreign secretary between July 9, 2009 and Dec 2, 2012 before that.

According to the CAG report, Quayes carried two domestic helpers from Dhaka to work for him.

But instead of paying them himself, he appointed them in the mission’s staff positions and paid them from public exchequer.

These positions were to be filled up by local recruits.

The report citing government rules says Quayes must pay for Sheepon Mia and Deen Islam as they were his domestic help.

The mission pointed out to the auditors that they had been appointed as local staff following the foreign ministry’s rules AD-P1-8201 dated 03-07-2002.

But the CAG says this explanation is “not satisfactory”.

The High Commission officers requested the auditors not to include this in the report saying they did not face such objection in earlier audits.

But the report says the High Commissioner violated the finance ministry’s “Financial Propriety” rules.

So, it has advised the mission to recover the money from the two staff or else manage the finance ministry’s approval.

The auditors found that High Commissioner Quayes withdrew Tk 550,000 to pay for his transportation, handling charge, clearing and local transport bill of his personal “2,250 kg” baggage from Dhaka to London when he transferred.

Though, according to the report, he took “100 percent advance” transportation cost when he was transferred from Dhaka to London in December 2012.

So, the report says, he is not entitled to receive the British pounds he received in February. It is “recoverable”, says the report.

In reply, the mission told the auditors the High Commissioner received the money as per the foreign ministry’s rules.
The mission authorities argued that advance bill had been paid for carrying his baggage from Bangladesh residence to London port (door to port).
The High Commissioner is also entitled to receiving costs for carrying baggage from London port to his London residence, they argued.
The mission also said that they would adjust it with the foreign ministry and would inform the audit directorate later.
But the auditors found the reply “not satisfactory” and asked for the foreign ministry’s clarification further, insisting the money is “recoverable”.
The audit report pointed out many financial ‘irregularities’ of the mission that had overspent its 2012-2013 budgets.
The diplomatic wing spent 8 percent more than the allocation while commercial wing spent nearly 13 percent more and press wing 5.6 percent.
The spending is contrary to the financial instructions for the Bangladesh Mission Abroad, auditors commented in the report.
The mission, in reply, said its spending rose due to some “unexpected” changes in its staff number.
Last year, eight new staff joined the mission, house rent soared and local staff salary increased, the mission authorities said trying to defend the higher-than-authorised spending.
It also said they had requested the foreign ministry and other relevant ministries to adjust the extra spending.
The authorities, however, told the auditors that in future they would try to contain spending.
But the auditors were “not satisfied” and asked for information on post-spending approval.
Most of the spending had been made without prior approval, according to the report.
For instance, 24 local employees in different wings have been paid more than Tk 3.7 million as festival bonus.
The auditors observed that they were not entitled to such bonus under the rules of the finance division of the government.
However, the mission authorities replied that they followed the foreign ministry’s order ADP (3)-7054 which allows a bonus a year for local staff.
The reply was found “not satisfactory” and auditors asked them to recover the money and not to give any bonus without the finance ministry’s approval in future.
The audit said the mission had violated Public Procurement Act (PPA 2006) and rules (PPR 2008) in many cases.
Its chancery building has been renovated spending more than Tk 9.3 million through tender, but the process did not follow PPA or PPR.
The High Commissioner’s residence known as “Bangladesh House” has been repaired spending more than Tk 4 million, without any tender.
The company owned by mission employee Shah Mohammad Belal -- “Shah Building and Plumbing Service” -- was awarded the contracts without any tender.
In gross violation of company law, bills have been paid in the name of persons instead of companies.
The mission admitted it was a “mistake” to issue cheque against individuals. It said they rectified it once it was noticed in case of the chancery building renovation payment.
But the mission said they followed that practice “intentionally” for paying the bills of the Bangladesh House works, to avoid “commercial tax” and keep the amount lower.
The mission replied that they paid the amount to Belal’s personal account, as his company’s account was facing “temporary problems”.
“If we pay into the company's account, then the tax has to be paid in commercial rate and that would push up the costs of works significantly. The money can be saved if the bill is paid to the owner of the company instead of the company,” the mission replied.
But auditors found their replies “not acceptable” and warned them to follow the procedure in future.
The audit found violation of public procurement rules in tendering the works of the chancery building.
They did not find any papers of how many companies bought tender documents and any minutes of the pre-tender meeting for renovating the chancery building.
Tender-opening committee prepared the tender-opening sheet, but there had been no signature of the bidders.
All the five members of the tender evaluation committee were mission officials, though at least two must be external members having knowledge of procurement rules needed for evaluation.
In reply, the mission said none joined the pre-tender meeting or opening of the tender.
It said of the five members, two were from the commerce and information ministries.
The mission, however, said they would try to abide by the advice of the audit team in future.
The audit also found “irregularities” in buying furniture worth nearly Tk 800,000 without tender.
The High Commission spent over Tk 380,000 for printing purposes, against a sanctioned allocation of only Tk 20,000.
The audit acknowledged that the allocation was meagre, but did not agree with such high spending for printing purposes.
The mission told them the money had been used in “public interest”.
“There are many eminent Bangladeshis living in the UK and they have to be invited on different occasions observed by the government,” the mission explained.
The audit also found that the mission spent Tk 3.4 million more than its budget for repairing cars without following public procurement act and rules.
The mission has seven cars. The auditors found same car had been repaired again and again and observed that had the car been dumped and a new car been bought, then much money would have been saved.
The mission said they had already written to the ministry in Dhaka to adjust the extra spending, a reply auditor found “not satisfactory” and advised not to cross the spending limit.
The audit team could not verify fuel cost for more than Tk 5.5 million as the log books of the cars had not been “properly written and maintained”.
The mission said they would maintain the log book properly in future.
The reply was “not acceptable” and the auditors asked the mission to follow government rules.
The mission also violated regulations in buying even regular stationary items and not maintaining register after buying anything.

File photo: Mohamed Mijarul Quayes

The mission authorities said they lacked staff in the accounts department to maintain those and that in future they would follow the regulations ‘properly’.
According to the audit report, the mission authorities could not produce most of the registers before the audit team that include festival bonus register, use of phones, staff leave, overtime, medical treatment, and some renovation and repair works.
The mission said the registers could not be maintained as there were two officials in the accounts section instead of three, a reply which was “not acceptable” to auditors.
The audit team termed it as reflection of "weakness of internal management".
The audit report also found 24 locally employed staff instead of the sanctioned positions for only 14.
The mission's reply in this regard was also found 'unacceptable'.
There have been allegations galore against the former foreign secretary, but bdnews24.com chose to report only those incidents which have been officially documented and proven beyond reasonable doubt.
“This report only covers the first six months of his tenure as High Commissioner,” says an insider, “there are so many more and so much spent in utter disregard for rules.”