The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was informed by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) on Thursday that 143,000 government officials had received an illegal distribution of Rs19 billion from the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), Dawn has reported.
Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, a member of the PAC, asked BISP secretary Yousuf Khan about the status of the investigation into the distribution of monies among government officials in 2020 during the examination of the audit report of the Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) was asked to look into the issue of the distribution of BISP payments to underserving beneficiaries when it first came to light in 2020.
In answer to Senator Syed’s inquiry, BISP secretary Yousuf Khan informed the committee that 2,500 of the 143,000 ineligible beneficiaries who were employed by the government were doing so at the BS-17 level or higher.
He claimed that these officials had been using their own names to withdraw money from the BISP which was intended for those in need.
The BISP secretary stated he was unsure of the precise amount paid to these unlawful beneficiaries when asked about it by PAC chairman Noor Alam Khan.
The committee was informed by the audit officials that Rs19 billion had been given to those who weren’t deserving.
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