According to a finance ministry finding, the amount of outstanding debt service liabilities (DSL) of 30 SoEs was Tk 68,209 crore till FY 2005-06.

However, the amount of liabilities of 44 SoEs was only Tk 1,731 crore during the same period, according to Bangladesh Economic Review, prepared by the finance ministry after collecting data from different government departments.

Of the total Tk 68,209 crore liabilities, Tk 28,775 crore was principal amount and the rest Tk 39,434 crore was interest, according to the finance ministry.

Only three SoEs had 91 percent of the total liabilities. They are Bangladesh Power Development Board (Tk 46,925 crore), Petrobangla (Tk 7,086 crore) and Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation (Tk 8,128 crore).

Finance ministry sources said the real figure never comes to light due to mismanagement in account handling and absence of proper documentation system.

The budget to be announced today will come up with the actual figure, sources added.

The office of the Comptroller of Auditor General (CAG) brought in such irregularities under government's notice in 2000. Donors also raised the issue on several occasions.

M Hafizuddin Khan, a former CAG and also a former adviser to a caretaker government, termed it as a big financial irregularity. Such things create scopes for misuse of government resources, he added.

The former CAG said SoEs usually borrow money for their development projects from either the government or the donors. "But neither the SoEs nor the line ministries maintain proper documentation regarding their borrowings and returns."

The account handling system of individual SoEs is also not accurate, Hafiz viewed.

Citing an example, he said financial records of the Jamuna Multipurpose Bridge Authority showed that it had Tk 22 lakh liabilities. But interestingly it paid off Tk 25 crore to the government.

"SoEs do not keep records of the loans they take from the government and development partners," Hafiz said.

He said the finance ministry itself did not have any mechanism to maintain such records. "Only an officer was assigned to keep the files and he did not have any computer."

"We also found irregularities in financial records of the Chittagong Port Authorities and the PDB. Their account systems were also not modern," Hafiz said.

The finance ministry findings show that PDB's actual liabilities are Tk 46,925 crore since 1972. Of which, principal amount is Tk 18,930 crore and interest is Tk 27,994 crore.

However, when contacted a PDB official said the amount of liabilities was only Tk 6,397 crore till June 06.

"We will inform the finance ministry to revise the DSL of the PDB," he said.

PDB sources said one of the reasons behind this huge difference in DSL estimation is that the PDB calculates the amount received from the donors according to dollar rate of the receiving period.

But the finance ministry calculates the liabilities according to the current dollar rate, added the PDB sources.