The Supreme Court was informed on Monday that a total of Rs 8 billion out of Rs 20 billion were illegally distributed among commoners through prime minister’s discretionary funds during the tenure of former premier Raja Pervez Ashraf .
The three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry resumed the hearing of a suo motu notice against spending of discretionary funds by Ashraf. The notice was taken over a news report stating that former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf allocated Rs 52 billion development funds for People’s Works Development Program-II, ten days after his tenure’s completion.
Pakistan Public Work Development (PWD) Director General (DG) Sarwar Awan told the court that Rs 3 billion out of the total amount was distributed through People’s Works Development Program PWDP-II. The PWD had cancelled 627 out of 60,243 development schemes, he added.
During the course of proceedings, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry observed that billions of rupees were released to people, who were not entitled to get funds through PWDP-I and PWDP-II which was a clear violation of guidelines set by the Planning Commission of Pakistan.
The court directed Attorney General of Pakistan (AG) Munir A Malik to precisely review the whole matter to ascertain the actual amount permissible which was to be distributed through the discretionary funds.
The court remarked that former prime minister Ashraf distributed billions of rupees in his constituency before the 2013 general elections but the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) despite taking notice, kept silent, raising several questions on transparency of the elections.
Director General (DG) Audit of Auditor General of Pakistan (AGPR), Malik Manzoor, said the AGPR had saved around Rs 15 billion out of a total Rs 20 billion released under prime minister’s discretionary funds during January, 2013 to March 16, 2013.
He told the court that according to rules set by Planning Commission of Pakistan for the distribution of funds for PWDP-I and PWDP-II, the grants were released to MNAs and Senators only. MPAs and other notable are not entitled to get funds through PWDP-I and PWDP-II, he added.
Around Rs 123 million were released to Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai at a time when he was neither MNA nor Senator and Rs 200 million were released to Mustafa Nawaz Khoker, adviser to the former prime minister for eight development schemes, Malik Manzoor said.
The court said the entire country was facing the brunt of the energy crisis due to circular debt of over Rs 500 billion and the industrial sector was on the verge of closure, while billions of rupees were embezzled by different government institutions.
The court adjourned further hearing till June 28.
