Auditor General of Pakistan has found irregularities & mismanagement of billions of rupees during 2016 Hajj Operation, this was revealed when at a time when the Ministry of Hajj is involved in Hajj Operations of 2017.
Billions were lost and no one was held accountable. Auditor General raised 10 serious objections on Hajj Ministry for their services, including payment of Rs 38.91 million for rent of office while space was reserved in Pakistan Secretariat.
Question was also raised on change in MoUs which allowed banks to keep profit & interests on amount paid by unsuccessful applicants. Due to this change banks retained the interest while earlier this was forwarded too Ministry of Hajj.
These irregularities & corruption were known to the ministry because when AGP informed the ministry about the Audit reports yet received no reply. Ministry also failed to provide proof for expenditure of against which Rs. 4.94 billion were paid in advance.
Hajj Ministry also failed to submit bank statements of accounts where Hajj fees were deposited. Similarly Ministry also failed to recover interests of Rs. 89.16 million which was earned on late payment of Hajj dues. Banks also failed to pay interest of Rs 89.16 regarding fees deposits of successful applicants.
It is declared in the Audit Report that ““Every government officer should realize fully and clearly that he/she will be held personally responsible for any loss sustained by [the] government through fraud or negligence on his part and that he/she will also be held personally responsible for any loss arising from fraud or negligence on the part of any other government officer to the extent to which it may be shown that he/she contributed to the loss by his own action or negligence”
On one hand the Hajj ministry was responsible for billions of loss to the government while on other hand the services to the people were also not satisfactory. Concerns were raised on the ill treatment of religious pilgrims against which people protested in front of Hajj Ministry offices in Saudi Arabia.