'Memorandum by Sir M Durand on the situation in Persia' [‎42v] (18/42)

18
Effect of the purchase
of appointments on
administration.
Finance Department.
Scope of work.
Military Accounts
Branch.
Method of audit in
the “ Daftr.”
Method of audit in
the Military Accounts
Branch.
Result of system of
accounts.
The Governors look to the “ farh ” as their special perquisite, and through its means
recoup themselves for their initial purchase-moneys. 'The privilege is grossly abused,
double and treble the accepted amount being often squeezed from the people. The lat^
are accustomed to this quasi legitimate tax, and would be content to accept it were it not
so grossly exceeded.
The high sums paid to the Shah give the Governors a good excuse for manipulating
public funds to their own advantage.
The army may be left unpaid, heavy reductions made on the salaries and pensions, &c.;
new expenses may be created, for instance, in the Province of Khorassan, where the
revenue is registered at 500,000, expenditure at 420,000, surplus at 80,000 tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. ; the
Government will reduce the surplus to a vanishing point.
With the co-operation of the Accounts Department of the capital the annual accounts
will be falsified, and large sums directly peculated.
It w r ould be difficult and useless to enumerate the various methods of obtaining
money, but enough has been said to show the shifts to which the Governors are obliged to
resort with a view to recover what they consider their rightful dues. The burden, as a
matter of course, invariably falls on the great producer, the peasant.
No. 2 .—The Accounts Department, or “ Daftr.”
The “ Daftr,” or Accounts Department, is the great accounting Department of the State.
At its head is a Minister (“ Vazir-i-Daftr ”) nominated by the Shah, and assisted by a staff of
“ Mustauffis,” or Accountants.
These Mustauffis are recruited from Irak, where certain families have provided
Accountants for generations. They generally have a very elementary education, and
undergo no special training.
The duties of the Daftr concern the whole accounts of the kingdom, and comprise the
preparation of the Ministerial Estimates, and of all branches of the public service, the
compilation of the Budget, the issue of Memorandums showing revenue and expenditure ;
finally, the compilation and audit of all accounts.
One or more Mustauffis are set aside for the accounts of each province, Ministry, or
Department. These men carry out the duties already enumerated, centralization being the
first and last word of the system.
To suit the exigencies of array administration a separate Military Accounts Office has
been created. This branch is nominally subordinate to the Daftr.
The Military Accounts Branch prepares the estimates for each regiment and province
for the information of the Daftr, and for insertion in the Budget. It also compiles
estimates for the expenditure required in each Department of War, for buildings, arsenal,
arms, &c., and keeps the account of expenditure.
At the end of the year accounts are submitted by each Governor, Minister, or Head
of Department, and are taken in hand by the special Accountant of the Daftr already
spoken of.
The Memorandums serve as the basis of check, receipts as a rule serving as vouchers
for expenditure. One important exception must be mentioned. For more important
items of expenditure the receipts alone are not accepted; in their place a “Barat” or
written order is required. This Barat is drawn up by the Mustauffi, and after receiving the
signature of the Minister of the Daftr is sent on for the approval of the Sadr Azm and the
seal of the Shah. This Barat system enables the Daftr and the Sadr Azm to pass in
special review all heavy disbursements, and though the Memorandums may have authorized
the expenditure, yet the Governor or Minister is held responsible until the Barat replaces
the receipt. A great power is thus relegated to the Sadr Azm, who acts as a final
referee. Very heavy sums are sometimes paid for bribes to the higher authorities for these
Barats.
The system of audit in the Military Accounts Branch differs but little from that in the
Daftr. The Barat system is also in vogue, the Naib-es-Sultaneh (Minister of War and
son of the Shah) exercising great power in respect thereto.
The accounts are finally centralized in the Daftr, but that Department interferes but
little with its sister branch owing to the personal influence of the Naib-es-Sultaneh.
The practical outcome of the system is to give the Daftr complete and irresponsible
control over every branch of accounts, over the estimates, the expenditure, and the
audit.
Its staff forms a powerful and interested corporation, and its work is submitted to no
scrutiny. It is true its final statements are submitted to the Sadr Azm, but that official
has no competent organization to examine the accuracy of the work.
The Sadr Azm deals with the Daftr very closely, but not in the sense to be
desired.
Another cause of the absolutism of the Daftr may be found in the difficulty, not to
say impossibility, of the uninitiated to read the peculiar character adopted by all accountants
of the Mustauffi class.
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