Welfare dishonesty: Probe finds corruption in Covid Fund

Former provincial minister claims amount in question is overstated

PESHAWAR:

While the provincial administration claims that the Corona Fund was instrumental in assisting the government’s relief efforts during the pandemic, a recent inquiry led by the anti-corruption watchdog reveals financial discrepancies in the allocation of and expenditure on medical resources.

Announced shortly after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Corona Relief Fund (CRF) was established to abate the detailing effects of the global pandemic by the then prime minister Imran Khan.

The CRF, which raised almost Rs4 billion in donations, came under fire when an inquiry carried out by the K-P office of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), revealed that around Rs2 billion worth of financial irregularities were spotted during the audit process.

According to NAB’s findings, funds allocated for the CRF were unlawfully used from the exchequer for PCR and Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) services, with a PCR contract worth Rs450 million and a RAT contract worth Rs370 million signed with a favored local laboratory, despite the precedence of the Shaukat Khanum Hospital and Research Center.

Furthermore, expensive oxygen tanks and cardiac monitors, which were purchased during the relief phase, resulted in a total loss of almost Rs800 million to the national treasury.

The Director General of Health Services, drawing on data from January 2021, pointed out an unauthorized expenditure of around Rs37 million as payments made to district-level Rapid Response Teams, which were tasked with collecting nasal samples from presumed patients, with an average of

Rs 4,000 per day being paid extra to the healthcare workers who were already receiving their monthly pay checks from the government. The drivers who drove the Rapid Response Teams to the testing locations were also given Rs 3,000
per day.

In addition to illegitimate payments being made to the response teams, NAB sources further highlighted that during the initial response of the pandemic, a Grade 17 Drug Inspector was illegally bestowed with the authority to manage the responsibilities of a Grade 19 Monitoring and Evaluation officer.

In responding to the NAB report, former minister of K-P, Taimur Saleem Jhangra, said: “The accusations made and the numbers stated as irregularities by the NAB, Rs 204 crores, are grossly overstated and the report accusing us of corruption overlooks the state of emergency during the Covid-19 outbreak which necessitated such haphazard expenditures and measures.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2023.