PMO officials told myrepublica.com that this is a “rare case” in which a parliamentary anti-graft watchdog is investigating into the expenditure details of trips made by incumbent prime minister and home minister. [break]
“We dispatched letters to PMO and MoHA seeking expenditure details incurred by the duo in their domestic and foreign trips,” said Som Bahadur Thapa, the committee´s secretary.
Thapa informed that they sought details of expenses based on the information they received recently. “The preliminary information shows that there are chances of irregularities,” Thapa said.
Justifying PAC´s initiation, Thapa added that they began investigation in a bid to maintain financial discipline among the top officials, including the prime minister, and to stop reckless spending from the state coffers.
The data of Finance Section of PMO and Ministry of Finance (MoF) shows that the cabinet has already exhausted annual budget allocated for domestic and foreign trips.
The government had allocated Rs 60 million for VIPs´ foreign trips and Rs 10 million for domestic trips. The cabinet has already spent Rs 15 million in domestic trips.
Thapa informed that the PAC has also sought details of expenses incurred in foreign trips by all other ministries. “We have also dispatched separate letters in the name of all the ministries,” he told myrepublica.com.
According to Thapa, majority of trips made by cabinet members have failed to bring any “substantial” achievement. “We had to issue fresh letters to the prime minister and home minister as we couldn´t get the details regarding their expenses in the documents we received earlier,” Thapa said.
The PMO did not submit the details of the ministers´ foreign trips to PAC. It only sent the details of domestic trips, he said.
The PMO, however, said it is unlikely that the details sought by PAC on PM´s trips would be furnished. “We keep records of all the ministerial trips. But we are never provided any details of expenses incurred by PM during such trips,” a source at the PMO said, adding, “In this backdrop, how can we furnish the expense details of PM to the PAC?”
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