FIA to probe 2,000 officers for availing BISP

PM’s aide says these cases relate to employees from grade 17 to 22

ISLAMABAD: The PM’s aide on accountability on Wednesday said 2,037 government officers from grade 17 to grade 22 or their spouses were among the beneficiaries of the Benazir Income Support Programme and their cases had been referred to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

“These officers or their spouses had applied for the BISP grant and were withdrawing money through the biometric system,” Special Assistant to the PM on Accountability Shahzad Akbar said at a news conference.

The PM’s aide explained that the government had written to the chief secretaries and the Establishment Division seeking departmental action against these officers and recovering money from them.

However, he added, as the money the officers had withdrawn was from the federal budget, the cases has also been referred to the FIA.

“These officers are given salaries and provided with all facilities through the taxpayers’ money. It is so cruel that this went on for so many years. It reflects that lack of transparency in this system,” he noted, adding that they would be tried for fraud.

The special assistant said overall, there were 140,000 government officers who benefitted from the BISP including those from grade 1 to grade 16.

Govt officers availing BISP won’t be named

He added that the BISP was aimed for the poor and it is necessary to name and shame the people who had illegally received these funds.

Elaborating further, the PM’s aide said of the 2,037 cases, 554 were identified in Balochistan, 938 in Sindh, 342 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 101 in Punjab, 40 in Gilgit-Baltistan and nine in Azad Kashmir.

Akbar said four BISP officers of grade 17 and above and 39 from grade 1 to grade 16 had been sacked for befitting from the programme. Besides, he added, 48 officers of the federal government had also been fired.

“Cases have been registered against the sacked BISP employees,” the PM’s aide said.

Earlier this month, Special Assistant to the PM on Social Protection and Poverty Alleviation Dr Sania Nishtar had said the BISP officers who were among the list of beneficiaries had been issued notices while the names of federal and provincial government officers who were benefitting from the programme have been shared with the authorities concerned.

In December 2019, Dr Nishtar had announced that the government had conducted forensic data analysis and identified 820,165 undeserving people who were availing BISP assistance.

According to official data, the highest number of government officials receiving BISP assistance was from Sindh. As many as 1,122 officers of grade 17 and above from the province were BISP beneficiaries.

The second-highest number came from Balochistan where 741 government officials had signed up for the poverty alleviation scheme. From Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 403 government officials availed the BISP funds, while 137 were from Punjab.

From the federal government, 62 officers received the programme funds. Additionally, one officer of the Pakistan Railways, 22 of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and 49 of Gilgit Baltistan were also marked as undeserving recipients of the BISP assistance.