Audit flags missing record of Rs40.414m Unicef grant in Islamabad labour department

ISLAMABAD: The Auditor General of Pakistan has raised objections over a Rs40.414 million grant linked to a child labour survey in Islamabad after the relevant department failed to provide records on the receipt and use of the funds, according to an audit report.

The Department of Labour and Industries, Islamabad Capital Territory, received the amount from Unicef during the 2023-24 financial year for a Child Labour Survey under a PSDP-funded project titled Elimination of Child Labour through Survey and Policy Development Initiative. The funding was part of a government-Unicef collaboration intended to support evidence-based policymaking on child labour in the federal capital.

According to the audit, the money was routed through the Punjab Bureau of Statistics, which was also an implementation partner in the project. However, auditors said the department did not produce records relating to the receipt of the funds, bank account details, expenditure or utilisation reports. No expenditure vouchers, survey reports or reconciliation with the Accountant General Pakistan Revenues or Unicef were available on record. The absence of financial and operational documentation had raised doubts about how the foreign-assisted funds were used and whether the project objectives were achieved.

The department’s management told auditors that the funds had been routed and managed through the Punjab Bureau of Statistics under Unicef’s transfer policy. The audit did not accept that response, saying records of disbursement and expenditure were also missing. The Departmental Accounts Committee, in a meeting held on February 11, 2026, directed the management to investigate the matter and place all relevant documents before audit authorities and the ministry.

Other audit observations

The same report also highlighted what it described as the illegal issuance of stamp papers worth Rs290 million to vendors whose licences had already been cancelled. Audit observed that those vendors obtained official stamp papers from the Federal Treasury by submitting fake and fabricated challans. The stamp papers were later used for property registrations, transfers and other legal instruments in the Land Revenue Department, Islamabad, making those transactions invalid and illegal.

The Market Committee, ICT, collected Rs100.489 million in market fees during 2024-25 but retained the full amount in its own account instead of depositing the mandatory 10 per cent share into the government treasury. According to the audit, that unpaid share amounted to Rs10.049 million.

Auditors also reported that the Islamabad Food Authority maintained bank account No. 000305714219 in a commercial bank, where a closing balance of Rs138.285 million remained as of June 30, 2025, rather than being transferred to the government treasury. The management neither obtained approval from the Finance Division for operating the account in United Bank Limited nor shifted the accumulated receipts to the government account, in violation of the Public Finance Management Act, 2019.

Deputy commissioner’s response

Responding to the audit observations concerning the deputy commissioner office’s alleged irregular retention of Rs138.285 million in a commercial bank account, Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Irfan Nawaz Memon said the funds had been received from the government and used, while the remaining amount stayed in the account.

On the non-reconciliation of mutation fees and the cost of unutilised stamp papers with the Federal Treasury Office, Mr Memon said he had not yet received the audit report. "We will produce the record and provide details to the concerned authority," he said.

Regarding the Islamabad Food Authority account, Mr Memon said it had been opened after obtaining permission from the Finance Division. He also said that during his tenure, the capital administration had not received any Unicef grant and that the Department of Labour and Industries did not come under his office.

According to Mr Memon, the Unicef funds were not received by the ICT Labour Department and were instead credited directly to the Punjab Bureau of Statistics, which he described as the executing partner for the child labour survey project. On the Market Committee revenue, he said the body was independent and did not fall under his office. Referring to the issuance of stamp papers to cancelled vendors, he said the papers had been issued by the government treasury and that his office had no role in the matter. He added that one individual had secured the stamp papers using a fake licence and that a case had already been registered with the Federal Investigation Agency.