Titas Gas has found Tk3,138.38 crore of deviations in its accounts over the last six years, the state-owned company informed the government. It attributed to the lost money to rule breaking, theft and other reasons.
Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Limited disclosed the figure to a meeting of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Undertakings on Tuesday, informing the committee about 212 audit objections that had been raised between 2010-11 and 2014-15 fiscal years.
After the meeting, the parliamentary body's President Shawkat Ali told the Dhaka Tribune that many of the audit objections and the number of huge audit objections were not acceptable.
“The committee has asked them [Titas] to immediately dispose the audits and inform the committee about the matter,” he said.
According to the meeting minutes, the highest of 74 audit objections were raised in FY2012-13 and FY2013-14, involving a total Tk1,037.34 crore.
In addition, 372 previous audit objections, raised between FY1972-75 and FY2009-10 and involving Tk6,438.21 crore, are also yet to be resolved.
The meeting document, signed by Energy and Mineral Resources Division Deputy Secretary Md Shahidul Islam, stated that only 21 audit objections had been resolved in the last six years.
But Shahidul told the Dhaka Tribune that audit objections were being resolved regularly and that the committee has recommended Titas to resolve other objections immediately by holding tripartite meetings.
In its report, Titas Gas cited non-compliance of financial rules, system loss, theft and shortages, usage of vehicles by ministries, foreign training and “other reasons” for the audit objections.
According to Showkat Ali, the committee raised question about the use of the term “other reasons.”
“There should not be something like other reasons, it has to be specific. Titas Gas was asked to specify the reasons. Actually, they have failed to make a proper list of audit objections,” he said.
The committee also expressed its dissatisfaction that only an assistant director from the Office of Controller General of Accounts (CGA) was present in the meeting when authorities had asked for a senior official from the CGA to attend the meeting. The meeting asked authorities concerned to make sure that an official, equivalent to the designation of director general, is present in the next meetings.
Meanwhile, a press release sent from the parliament secretariat read that a total 199 drives have been conducted for illegal gas line cancellation as of December 2015, where the authorities have cancelled connections of 316km of gas pipeline.
The committee recommended appointing magistrates for reducing system loss by cancelling illegal gas connections and also taking legal action against unscrupulous officials involved in giving such connections.
