Customers were asked to pay 64 rupees extra for a liter of 92-octane gasoline and 11.10 rupees extra for a liter of 95-octane gasoline, owing to the unhealthy practice of paying more commission.
It is not clear from the audit whether there is a system of fuel distribution where they pay an additional commission to the agents.
While the Petroleum Corporation is facing a crisis to secure the required amount of rupees to procure dollars for the import of petroleum products, the corporation has paid more than 6,500 million rupees in excess of commission to the distributors in the last 50 days (July 26 to September 15, 2022), against a decision taken by the board of directors. The National Audit Office revealed
Due to the economic crisis in the country, the daily supply of petroleum has also been restricted to meet two-thirds of the demand.
The Audit Office said that, according to the decision of the Board of Directors, the amount of commission that should have been paid to the distributors on July 26, 2022, is 30.7 million rupees.
But due to the payment of 98.6 million rupees per day to the distributors regardless of the decision of the board of directors, the extra commission paid in one day amounts to 67.9 million rupees.
The audit report states that the excess commission paid within a month from that date is 1960 million rupees (1.96 billion).
These commissions were paid to distributors regardless of the upper limit, even when daily petroleum supplies were capped.
Due to this, the commission payable per year was 24,444 million rupees. (24.44 billion).
The audit has revealed that the commission amount envisaged to be paid in excess is more than four times the total cost of overtime allowances, bonuses, and all other allowances paid to the employees of the corporation.
The audit report also states that 400 new gas stations (excluding land) can be built in a year with this money.
Due to the higher commissions paid to the distributors, petroleum consumers will have to pay an extra 8.64 rupees for every liter of octane-92 type gasoline they consume.
The additional amount to be paid for a liter of 95-octane gasoline is 11.10 rupees.
The audit has revealed that consumers will have to pay 9.27 rupees for 1 liter of diesel (LAD) and 10.95 rupees for 1 liter of LSD diesel.
During the last year (2021), an additional commission of 132.453 million rupees was paid by paying an additional commission to five selected sales representatives, according to the audit report.
Since 2008, the Petroleum Corporation has implemented a system of selling fuel directly to consumers by paying commissions to selected dealers. It is stated in the audit report that while the corporation has the ability to sell fuel directly to consumers, the basis for implementing such a system of fuel distribution by paying an additional commission to the agents is not clear from the audit.
According to the decision of the board of directors, the percentage of commission paid to buyers was determined to be subject to upper and lower limits based on the price fluctuations of the domestic market for oil in the year 2019. Due to the economic crisis caused by the foreign exchange deficit, the prices of domestic petroleum products had increased rapidly.
But the audit has revealed that the chairman of the corporation pays commissions to the distributors regardless of the upper cap, subject to the approval of the board of directors.
