- “Typos” in earlier edition inflated figures to unprecedented level.
- AGP reported irregularities worth over 27 times of annual budget.
- Actual irregularities after the rectification stand at Rs9.769tr.
ISLAMABAD: In a stunning reversal, the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has finally withdrawn its explosive report that cited irregularities worth Rs375 trillion (Rs375,000 billions) in federal accounts — an amount more than 27 times Pakistan’s annual budget.
The AGP has now issued a revised version, admitting that the earlier edition contained “typos” that inflated the figures to an unprecedented level.
The new report — “Consolidated Audit Report of Federal Government for the Audit Year 2024-25” — was uploaded on the Department of the Auditor General of Pakistan’s official website a few days back.
It acknowledges: “The executive summary of the original version of the Consolidated Audit Report uploaded on the DAGP’s website had a few typos. At two places, the word trillion had been used instead of billion. The actual amount after rectification is Rs9.769 trillion”.
The office further confirmed that the federal audit exercise itself cost Rs3.02 billion. The revised report explains that the identified irregularities span multiple years and include out-of-budget items such as circular debt, land disputes, and the accounts of corporations and companies. It clarifies that the anomalies, while massive, are consistent with patterns documented in earlier audit reports.
This confirmation vindicates The News, which, despite AGP’s denial, had reported weeks ago that the Rs375 trillion figure defied both economic logic and financial reality.
The original report, uploaded in August, had claimed procurement-related irregularities of Rs284 trillion, defective and delayed civil works amounting to Rs85.6 trillion, receivables of Rs2.5 trillion, and unresolved circular debt of Rs1.2 trillion — among other discrepancies.
That version implied Pakistan’s financial irregularities were more than triple the size of the country’s total GDP (around Rs110 trillion) and 27 times larger than the federal budget for FY2023-24 (Rs14.5 trillion). The math simply didn’t add up.
Even government insiders were left baffled, questioning whether the AGP had mistakenly multiplied figures, lumped together cumulative data for multiple years, or simply failed to apply credible financial oversight.
When first approached, the AGP’s office had stood by the report, insisting that irregularities and violations could surpass even the total size of the federal budget.
A voice note shared by one of its experts at the time suggested the office was unfazed by the astronomical numbers. Later, the AGP even issued a press release insisting that the figures it quoted in the original report were correct.
Now, with the correction, the AGP concedes that the earlier figures were the result of typographical errors rather than substantive financial disclosures.
Despite the correction, the revised figure of Rs9.769 trillion in irregularities is still staggering — nearly two-thirds of the federal budget for FY2023-24. The findings will now be presented before Parliament after approval by the President.
While the AGP’s retreat from its Rs375 trillion “bombshell” averts one financial absurdity, it leaves behind serious questions about the credibility of Pakistan’s top audit institution and the reliability of the nation’s financial reporting system.
Originally published in The News
