The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was informed on Wednesday that the age of Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) beneficiaries will be determined on the basis of the CNIC record instead of matriculation certificate, and the pensioners will get a raise in their pensions from May 1.
The committee was also told that EOBI disbursed Rs2.79 billion among 5,131 fake pensioners.
A meeting of PAC under the chair of Junaid Akbar vetted the audit paras of the Ministry for Overseas Pakistanis.
During the meeting, the audit officials informed the committee that EOBI had disbursed Rs2.79 billion to ineligible or fake pensioners.
According to the audit report, out of approximately 800,000 pensioners, the data of over 5,000 individuals was found to be incorrect. Pensions were issued to people whose dates of birth did not match between their CNICs and matriculation certificates. In some cases, men under 60 and women under 55 were receiving pensions, in violation of eligibility criteria.
The audit officials revealed that age manipulation was used to grant pensions to more than 5,000 unqualified individuals.
EOBI officials informed the committee that the institution's fund currently stands at Rs600 billion. They added that there are around 10 million businesses in the country, and any business with at least 10 employees is required to register with the EOBI. They said they verify the age of the beneficiaries through CNIC and other sources.
The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis secretary said that pension cases would be settled now on the basis of the CNIC, adding that EOBI pensions will be raised from May 1.
PAC chairman Junaid Akbar Khan said there should be a standard criteria for determining the age of the pensioners. The EOBI chairman said they would now issue pensions based on CNICs using NADRA's data.
The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis secretary requested a month's time to rectify issues. The committee directed the ministry to investigate the matter and submit a report within a month.
Audit officials also disclosed that EOBI had not recovered Rs2.47 billion from 2,864 institutions. The EOBI officials said these institutions did not register their full workforce and did not pay their due amounts. EOBI has recovered Rs1.53 billion but still working on recovering Rs1 billion, partially because some recovery cases were stuck in court.
The committee chairman directed the EOBI officials to complete the recovery within a month.
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