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Travel bills drain out public money
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^iritnessed submissions of such inflated bills by members of the erstwhile prime minister's entourage, and how they forged rubber stamps, letterheads and other documents for the purpose. He said there was a nexus between officials of the accounts department and the travellers, while the highest audit office usually did not raise questions despite knowing that the bills were inflated, as they were scared of the PMO staff.
Former cabinet secretary also an ex-adviser to a caretaker government, Dr Akbar Ali khan, termed the practice as unethical' and said the officers themselves should have returned the extra money. ’If the officials don't readjust the fund by themselves, the government should stop paying their salaries. The government may also garnishee the amounts from their salaries," he told The Daily Star.
Although the issue is not w new, it came to the fore only because an official investigation revealed that a number of officials of the foreign ministry and the chief adviser's office of the immediate past caretaker government submitted airfare bills which were two to three times higher than usual market prices for tickets and freight charges.
According to a latest official document about government officials' overseas trips, many in the immediate past interim government drew excessive amounts of money through the malpractice. The Daily Star has collected a list of 24 such officials, who were attached to the immediate past chief adviser's office (CAO), and all of whom drew highly inflated amounts of money for air
travel.
The list reveals that many junior officials, who were entitled to economy class tickets, submitted airfare bills higher even than business or executive class tickets. The audit section of the foreign ministry recently detected that a submitted bill for a oneway ticket on a certain route was even higher than the original market price of a roundtrip ticket on the route.
The list shows that a cameraman drew Tk 2,73,067 travelling on Dhaka-Singapore-Colombo-Dhaka route in 2008. He also drew Tk 3,16,515 for a Dhaka-Dubai-New York-Dhaka trip the same year. Both rates of airfares are much higher than what were the market prices back then.
For a Dhaka-Dubai-Dhaka trip, an army major, who was a deputy director at CAO. drew Tk 1,11.705 while a civil servant of the deputy secretary rank drew Tk 1,41,951 for a Dhaka-Singapore-Dhaka trip, both of which were much higher than the market prices of tickets for those routes.
There were even incidents at CAO of two different officials drawing different amounts for airfares on the same route. A female deputy secretary drew Tk 1,19,103 for travelling on Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur-Dhaka route while a deputy press secretary to CAO drewTk 1,08,310 for the same purpose.
The list further shows that a junior official of CAO drew Tk 1,67,048 for travelling on Dhaka-Hong Kong Beijing-Dhaka route while another official, who was in Special Security Force (SSF), drew
Tk 3,23,075 for a Dhaka-Dubai- Dakar- Dhaka trip, both of which were much higher than the market prices of
tickets for the routes.
An executive producer of Bangladesh Television, who travelled with the chief adviser, drew Tk 4,47,472 for a Dhaka -Dubai-London-Dakar-Dhaka trip while a director of SSF drew Tk 1,92,162 for a Dhaka-London-Dakar-Dhaka trip. Again the claims were much higher than the actual market prices of those tickets.
According to a foreign ministry audit report, a former director general (admin) of the ministry, submitted a claim for about Tk 2.82 lakh as advance travel allowance for Dhaka-Cairo airfare, which should not have been more than Tk 1.5 lakh even for a round trip on that route.
The sources said the audit department took a number of attempts in vain to stop the malpractice, as senior officials of the ministry remained silent about it for reasons unknown. In many cases, the sources said, audit officials incurred the wrath of senior officials because they had pointed out to them irregularities in submitted bills.
The irregularities came up for discussion in an inter-ministerial meeting recently, which put forward a number of suggestions for saving public money by putting an end to the rampant malpractice. The audit department listed 15 officials who had inflated their bills, and alleged that the government incurred a loss of Tk 22 lakh for the malpractice. The list includes ambassadors, directors, senior assistant secretaries, and counsellors of the foreign ministry.
It reveals that a top official of the foreign ministry showed Tk 2,53,483 as airfare for a Dhaka-Canberra trip while an
ambassador claimed Tk 1.94,579 for a trip from Dhaka to Pretoria. Another ambassador showed Tk 2,49,290 for a Dhaka-Washington trip. All of which were inflated rates of airfares.
The inter-ministerial meeting was presided over by Arastoo Khan, additional secretary (treasury, debt management and administration) to the finance ministry. It was attended by officials from finance and foreign ministries as well as from the Office of Comptroller and Auditor General.
The meeting found that the travel fares claimed by the officials were quoted according to the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) fare chart, which widely differed from the competitive market prices of tickets sold by airlines or their sales agents. The meeting suggested strict compliance with financial rules, especially the Standards of Financial Propriety', for claiming travel expenses.
"Officials cannot claim fares on the basis of the IATA chart or quotations collected from any travel agent. As the officials get sufficient time while being transferred from their stations, it is better for them to collect the tickets at least a month prior to moving to new places," the meeting said in its recommendations.
It also decided that the chief accounts officer of the finance ministry will request the officials to correct their already submitted bills in accordance with the market rates of airfares. "If the officials do not comply with the request, the chief accounts officer will take steps to realise the extra amount from the officials concerned," the recommendations added.