Tag: corruption

  • Audit unearths Rs270,000,000,000 corruption, irregularities under PTI govt in one year

    Audit unearths Rs270,000,000,000 corruption, irregularities under PTI govt in one year

    The first audit report of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has unveiled irregularities and corruption to the tune of Rs270 billion in 40 departments and ministries.

    According to Dawn, the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has unearthed misappropriation and embezzlement of public funds to the tune of over Rs12 billion, with irregularities of government funds amounting to Rs258bn.

    The AGP’s report covers the fiscal year 2018-19 — the first year of the PTI government — and recommends strict action, including references, to investigation agencies against those responsible. The AGP has finalised its report on audit year 2019-20 and it would be submitted to parliament and the president in a couple of days.

    The report also disclosed that record for a number of entities and accounts was not given to audit teams in violation of rules.

    The audit revealed corruption and fake receipts in ministries and departments to the tune of Rs12.56 billion. It stated that recovery cases of Rs79.59 billion in federal ministries were reported and a record of Rs17.96 billion was not provided to the auditor general by government departments.

    The report further said that Rs8.89 billion in corruption cases had been recorded owing to weak internal controls and cases worth Rs152.20 billion were reported due to poor financial management.

    The AGP recommended that government institutions not be allowed to undertake expenditures unless approved from the parliament and similarly, to not allow supplementary grants to these institutions without the parliament’s approval.

    He recommended that corruption cases be handed over to investigative agencies.

    A government minister while commenting on the audit report said that such irregularities during the period of past governments used to involve up to Rs1,000 billion. Geo quoted Minister for Industries Hammad Azhar as saying the graph had come down by 80 per cent but added that the PTI government needed to improve it further.

  • You can now report corruption, bribery on Pakistan Citizen’s Portal

    You can now report corruption, bribery on Pakistan Citizen’s Portal

    A category for ‘Corruption and Malpractices’ has been introduced on the Pakistan Citizens’ portal to curb these illegal practises from the government departments. The portal now allows people to report corrupt practices on the complaint lodging mechanism.

    The Prime Minister’s Performance Delivery Unit (PMDU) has introduced the category on the directives of Prime Minister Imran Khan. As per the unit, subcategories have also been made to help citizens classify the nature of the complaint.

    Matters related to the corruption in public funds, bribery, and kickbacks can be reported under financial corruption. While irregularities in recruitment, procurement, and allotment processes fall under the Violation of Merit/Rules category.

    Similarly, favoritism, unauthorized privileges, etc. characterise the Power Abuse section.

    In addition to this, citizens can also report physical or sexual harassment, threatening and blackmailing, under the harassment category. Any case regarding fake documents and impersonation will go under the Fraud/Mockery section.

    PMDU said these categories will not only facilitate the public, but they will also organise the complaint lodging process. It will also protect the integrity of the portal as most of the cases received through this platform are proved to be mala fide and irrational serving only vested interests.

  • PTI’s Pakistan more corrupt than PML-N’s Pakistan: Transparency International

    PTI’s Pakistan more corrupt than PML-N’s Pakistan: Transparency International

    Transparency International (TI) — a Berlin-based international non-governmental organisation combating global corruption — on Thursday released a new report, according to which, the country under the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has witnessed more corruption in 2019 than it did in the outgoing year of the former ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

    According to TI’s global report on the 2019 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), while Pakistan’s ranking dropped from 117 to 120 in 2019, the CPI score also dropped from 33 to 32.

    Here’s what Twitterati have to say about the report that was to determine if corruption in the country under the PTI government has decreased as Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan’s promised accountability drive continues against opposition lawmakers and government officials.

    PAKISTAN AND CPI:

    Pakistan witnessed slight improvement in the 2018 CPI, scoring a point higher than in 2017 but remaining unchanged in the rankings.

    According to Geo, the country scored 33 out of 100 on the index — one point better than its score of 32 in the previous year. Its ranking, however, remained unchanged at 117 out of 180 countries, same as 2017.

    TI’s annual report on CPI is formulated on the basis of input from 13 international agencies. In the case of Pakistan, however, the assessment of eight agencies is taken into account. These include the World Economic Forum Executive Opinion Survey; the World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment; the World Justice Project Rule of Law Index; the Bertelsmann Stiftung Transformation Index; the Economist Intelligence Unit Country Risk Service; the Global Insight Country Risk Ratings; the IMD World Competitiveness Center World Competitiveness Yearbook Executive Opinion Survey; and the Varieties of Democracy project’s findings.

    Pakistan in the last 10 years (since 2010) has improved its index score from 23 in 2010 to 33 in 2018. In 2016 and 2017, Pakistan maintained the same score, 32, which in 2018 increased to 33. However, never in these last ten years has Pakistan been assessed to have performed negatively as compared to the previous year.

  • PM Imran orders to publicly reveal names of officers ‘stealing’ BISP funds

    PM Imran orders to publicly reveal names of officers ‘stealing’ BISP funds

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has reportedly ordered to publicly reveal the names of 2,543 senior government officers who had added either their own names, or those of their spouses, to the list of beneficiaries of the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP).

    In a tweet, Sania Nishtar, who serves as the BISP head as well as the special assistant to the prime minister (SAPM) on social protection and poverty alleviation, had last week said that 2,543 government officers of Grade-17 and above had availed the BISP and had now been “exited” from the programme.

    According to official data, which was also posted on Twitter by Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry, the highest number of government officials availing the BISP was from Sindh. Per the detailed breakdown, 1,122 officers of Grade-17 and above from the province had been BISP beneficiaries.

    The second highest number came from Balochistan, where 741 government officials were signed up for the poverty alleviation scheme. From Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 403 government officials availed the BISP, while 137 did so from Punjab.

    From the federal government, 62 officers availed the programme. Additionally, 1 officer of the Pakistan Railways, 22 of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and 49 of Gilgit Baltistan were also marked as undeserving recipients of the BISP. From within the BISP itself, six officers were listed among the beneficiaries.

    With the federal cabinet taking up the matter on Tuesday, PM Imran ordered to publicly reveal the names of the officers benefiting from the programme. “No leniency should be there for those who deprive the poor of their rights,” the premier reportedly said.

    “It is very regretful for us and damaging for the image of the country that officers of grade-17 to grade-20 officers were receiving funds meant for the poor deserving people,” SAPM on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan had said earlier in the day as she announced that a report on the matter would be presented to the premier in the federal cabinet meeting.

    She had also said that a strict action would be taken against those involved.

  • ‘PTI govt recovers Rs10.8 bn looted in Hazara motorway construction,’ claims Murad Saeed

    Minister for Communication and Postal Services, Murad Saeed has claimed that the government has recovered embezzlement worth Rs10.8 billion in the Hazara motorway project done by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

    Addressing the National Assembly (NA) session on Monday the minister said that PML-N made changes in the design of the motorway and added a suspicious bridge in the project that caused the delay and escalated the cost as well.

    Murad said that he requested the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to look into the matter and launched an inquiry, which led to recoveries of Rs10.8 billion.

    The minister informed the parliament that inordinate changes were also made in Hakala-Dera Ismail Khan, Sukkur-Multan, and Lahore Abdul Hakeem motorway sections.

    He later demanded an apology from those who caused substantial damages to the national exchequer and announced that the design changes have been completed, and the motorway will be open for the public on November 15.

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  • Irregularities worth Rs118 million detected in Lahore metro bus project

    Irregularities worth Rs118 million detected in Lahore metro bus project

    The Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) has detected irregularities worth around Rs120 million in the decoration of the Lahore metro bus’s track, Dunya News has reported.

    According to reports, the Parks & Horticulture Authority (PHA) and contractors allegedly colluded, resulting in losses worth millions of rupees to the national exchequer.

    Discovering irregularities of Rs118.49 million in the report, the top auditor stated that there was no plantation on the track and funds simply “vanished”.

    The AGP has issued orders for departmental proceedings against the PHA officials concerned and said that the administrative control of the officers was also found to be extremely poor.

    The Lahore metro bus project was completed in 11 months by former Punjab chief minister (CM) Shehbaz Sharif and began its services on February 11, 2013. The total expenditure of the project stood at Rs29.896 billion.

  • NAB seizes luxury cars, gold, weapons in raid on ex DG’s house

    NAB seizes luxury cars, gold, weapons in raid on ex DG’s house

    The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has arrested the former parks and horticulture director-general, Liaquat Ali Qaimkhani of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) in Bagh Ibne Qasim scam, Dawn reported.

    According to the details, the anti-graft body has seized eight luxury vehicles, weapons, property files, jewellery and official records of the KMC from ex DG’s custody.

    Moreover, ‘original files’ of the KMC were also seized from the held suspect’s home including two lockers, six and four feet high.

    Reports also reveal that the held suspect had granted a “fake contract” of Bagh Ibne Qasim when he was parks DG of the KMC.

    A day prior, ex-DG parks Qaimkhani was arrested but a three-day transit remand was approved for him.

    When asked by a journalist how someone earning Rs1.5 million a year could afford such luxuries and a big house, the former DG parks said that he belonged to a landlord family and that was his ancestral home.

  • PML-N leaders mistake own ‘corruption’ for PTI’s

    In a rather embarrassing development, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders have shared audit reports highlighting financial irregularities from their own tenure, while mistaking them as “shortcomings of the now ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)”.

    As per the details, Dawn on Friday shared contents of an audit report pointing out irregularities worth over Rs15.67 trillion money in affairs of federal ministries and divisions during the audit year 2018-19.

    PML-N central spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb besides other leaders, including Maiza Hameed and Khurram Dastgir, tweeted the report while criticising the PTI government for its “corruption”.

    They, however, failed to realise that the funds audited were of the fiscal year 2017-18 — a time when the PML-N was in power — which is described as the audit year 2018-19.

    With screenshots of the said tweets starting doing rounds over the internet, Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry and Minister for Economic Affairs Hammad Azhar also took a dig at the PML-N leaders for “exposing their own corruption”.

    The tweets have since been deleted.

  • PTI govt excludes ‘most corrupt govt of last 19 years’ from its investigation: report

    PTI govt excludes ‘most corrupt govt of last 19 years’ from its investigation: report

    The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has excluded from its probe the country’s “most corrupt government of the past 19 years” as it investigates foreign loans obtained by previous governments, The News reported.

    As per the details, the Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan-led government has formed a high-powered commission to probe Rs24,000 billion loans acquired during the past 10 years.

    While the PTI is only focusing on the last 10 years of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) governments, last 19 annual reports of Transparency International (TI) — a Berlin-based global watchdog — show that corruption was at its peak in Pakistan during General (r) Pervez Musharraf’s military rule.

    According to The News, TI, which publishes annual Global Corruption Barometer and Corruption Perception Index (CPI) to give a comparative listing of corruption worldwide, shows more corruption in Musharraf’s tenure as compared to the latest of the two former ruling parties.

    The least corruption in terms of the best CPI score was attained by Pakistan in 2018, the year which was shared by the rule of the outgoing PML-N, caretaker setup and the PTI.

    Although the last tenure of the PPP was generally dubbed the most corrupt in the country’s history, the TI annual reports record shows that the lowest score during the last PPP regime has been 24 out of 100 (2.4/10) in 2009 as against 21 under Musharraf.

    It means that the last PPP tenure’s lowest score is three points better than Musharraf’s lowest score.

    HIGH-POWERED COMMISSION:

    The ruling PTI recently formed a high-powered commission, headed by National Accountancy Bureau (NAB) Deputy Chairman Hussain Asghar, to probe the soaring loans piled up over the past 10 years.

    The 12-member commission includes officials from NAB, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Military Intelligence (MI), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

    According to a government notification, the federal government would hire national and international experts to conduct forensic audits of investment and expenditure of the past governments during the last 10 years.

    The commission will have to submit interim reports of progress every month and a final report within six months.

    It would also probe all development projects, kickbacks and contracts during 2008-2018. Embezzlement of government funds and alleged corruption in the development projects would also be investigated.