The objections were against a number of organisations under the defence ministry including the Army, Navy and Air Force which have 783 objections to the expenditure of about Tk 285.60 crore in the fiscal years 1971-72 till 2001-2002, says a report of the Office of Comptroller and Auditor General's Office (CAG) which was placed before the Jatiya Sangsad yesterday.

"Non-resolution of the huge audit objections over the years are creating ground for more irregularities in the organisations," the report noted', adding that in many cases, authorities did not even cite any reason in response to the objections.

The six objections were resolved in the 1984-85 fiscal year involving only about Tk 7 lakh and since then none of the other objections were settled. The report recommended intervention from higher authorities to immediately resolve the objections. However, none of the 35 audit objections of the 2001-2002 fiscal year involving about Tk 2.25 crore have been resolved.

It blamed violation of rules and laws, irregularities in signing agreements, depositing revenue income in non-revenue sector, extravagant spending and failure to follow the rules and orders issued by the ministries of finance, establishment and defence for the financial irregularities.

Bangladesh Navy purchased 2, 67,699 cartridges causing a loss of Tk 21.41 lakh to the national exchequer. The report said 2,00,000 bullets were bought for BNS Bhatiary in 2002, which were made in 1985 and were due to expire in 10 years' time. Another 67,699 round bullets were bought in 1999 after four years of their expiry date.

One objection said officials of the Ramu Army Camp in Cox's Bazar received hill allowances of Tk 42.12 lakh though the camp was not set in a hilly area.