Javaid Jehangir, a retired officer of the Pakistan Audit and Account Services, has been appointed as Auditor General of Pakistan, a notification of the Finance Division said on Tuesday.
Jehangir has been appointed as Auditor General of Pakistan by President Mamnoon Hussain, effective from the date he enters office, the notification said.
The post of the auditor general fell vacant in April this year when Rana Assad Amin retired after turning 65 – the maximum age limit for the position. The government was running the affairs of the Audit Department through acting appointments.
The government had intentionally kept the post vacant as it wanted to appoint its loyalist former finance secretary Tariq Bajwa after his retirement in June this year. However, Bajwa had to be appointed as State Bank governor after the rupee nosedived in a single day in June.
An official source said the new auditor general was very close to some of the leading personalities of the ruling party.
Jehangir retired from the Audit and Account Services Group in December 2016. He also served as member finance in the Capital Development Authority (CDA), which led to initiation of official inquiry against his role in financial deals in CDA.
He had served under the then CDA Chairman Farkhund Iqbal, as member finance. Iqbal was removed and cases were registered under charges of corruption. However, no case was registered against Jehangir till his retirement. Under Government Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 1973, on retirement of an officer, all pending inquiries stand abated.
