It has been revealed that the Sindh government has paid over Rs 44 million to private lawyers for their services.
The report of the Auditor General of Pakistan raised questions about hiring the services of private lawyers.
The audit report said that the payment was revealed during the audit of the Department of Law, Parliamentary Affairs, and Criminal Prosecution for the financial year 2022-23.
According to the report, the Supreme Court prohibited the hiring of private lawyers in 2017, however, the Sindh government paid 44.7 million rupees to private lawyers for their services.
The audit report said that 36.8 million rupees were paid to private lawyers under the Prosecutor General’s Office for services, the payment was made during the financial years 2021-22 and 2022-23.
7.8 million rupees were paid during FY 2022-23 under the Advocate General Office, contract employees, or legal prosecutors in violation of Supreme Court orders, no appointment order of contract employees is part of the record.
According to the report, it is difficult to confirm payment without a scale of legal fees, information on lawyers, performance or case information is also not available. is
The audit report states that in 2016, the budget transfer for Rangers Special Prosecutors was approved by the Sindh Chief Minister. The Advocate General’s Office has stated that the services of private lawyers were obtained as ‘advocates on record’.
According to the report of the Auditor General of Pakistan, the AG Office has stated that the services of private lawyers were obtained for the execution of administrative matters, but the relevant records were not provided to the District Accounts Committee.
