The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) received Rs125 billion over the past four years, but no one knew where the funds were spent, said Pak Sarzameen Party vice-chairperson Dr Arshad Abdullah Vohra.
He was addressing a press conference on Thursday while releasing the first edition of a multi-part white paper on the alleged corruption of former Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar and Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) chairpersons of the Central, Korangi, East and West districts.
Vohra maintained that despite KMC receiving more than Rs1.70 billion for cleaning 26 drains over four years, the provincial capital continued to sink in water from the overflowing drains after rainfall.
He added that KMC received Rs14 billion in the name of the Annual Development Plan and raised Rs4.76 billion from its resources, pointing out that the funds could have been utilised for around 945 development projects in the city.
Moreover, Vohra said that in the 130 union councils (UCs) held by the MQM-P out of 209, each chairperson received Rs24 million in the last four years at Rs0.5 million monthly, accumulating a total of Rs3.12 billion during the tenure apart from the district ADP and the KMC's generated revenue.
He further calculated that MQM-P's local body representatives received about Rs21 billion for development works, while the KMC also received more than Rs37.70 billion for salaries and pensions.
"Ghost employees are a major cause of corruption in the KMC. This requires a transparent and impartial investigation," he stated.
Elaborating further on the white paper, he alleged that the KMC used Rs15 million annually to pay salaries of the MQM-P media cell workers.
He demanded a transparent investigation of the corruption during the four-year tenure of the local government and also called for the names of Akhtar and the former district chairpersons of the aforementioned districts to be put on the Exit Control List.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 11th, 2020.
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Why its so difficult to trace the spend of Rs125bn. Just filter out the assets and bank accounts of MQM leaders and their kitchen/servants house hold.