Pakistani officials ‘loot’: Rs 37 million aid leak reported; audits find Rs 141 billion misuse

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Pakistan’s flagship social safety programme, the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), is once again under fire for corruption, with the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) uncovering large-scale graft involving its own employees. According to audit findings, as many as 324 officials, from the lowest Grade 1 to the highest Grade 22, embezzled over Rs 37 million, local media reported on Sunday. Citing the AGP’s revelations, The Express Tribune said the rot runs through every level of the bureaucracy. What was envisioned as a lifeline for the country’s poorest has been consistently hollowed out by systemic fraud and abuse. And the Rs 37 million loss, auditors warn, may only scratch the surface. Just months earlier, audit reports for FY24 exposed irregularities worth Rs 141 billion in BISP, ranging from payments to ineligible beneficiaries to bogus biometric verifications and even funds being transferred to the accounts of deceased individuals. “In effect, those entrusted with administering aid to the poor are instead perpetuating poverty,” the report noted. The AGP findings also highlight the involvement of not just BISP employees but also banks and retailers, some of whom were caught illegally skimming fees from beneficiaries using BISP cards. Despite being identified, several perpetrators reportedly “escaped criminal charges despite being caught red-handed and named publicly,” The Express Tribune reported. The culture of impunity, it added, remains entrenched. “Even if guilty officials are prosecuted and terminated, recent history has shown that the fear of consequences has not particularly slowed corruption in most government departments, and BISP is no different.” The report stressed that the system’s checks must be tightened: “Controls need to be more proactive, including transparent biometric systems, stricter verification processes and independent monitoring mechanisms.” With BISP catering to roughly 58 million people—nearly a quarter of Pakistan’s population—its credibility carries enormous weight. “Allowing it to become a corrupt and untrusted institution is not just a betrayal of honest and deserving beneficiaries, but of every single taxpayer and international donor supporting the programme,” the report warned.