ISLAMABAD: Lending a huge blow to the National Accountability Bureau’s claim of recovering more than Rs.821 billion ever since its inception, the finance ministry said on Wednesday that the anti-corruption monitoring body has only deposited Rs.6.458bn in the national exchequer.
Taken aback by the claims of the finance ministry, the Senate Standing Committee on Finance has decided to get an audit done by the Audit General of Pakistan.
The details were disclosed in documents shared by Additional Finance Secretary Tanvir Butt. According to the documents, almost a quarter of the recoveries made by NAB, ever since it was formed 16 years ago, have come under the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) rule.
Butt said that the finance ministry did not have an idea as to what happened to the rest of the recovered money. He also told that the finance ministry could not ask the anti-corruption watchdog as to where the money was being spent and utilised.
NAB, however, claims Rs76bn as plea bargain or voluntary refund, Rs60bn against the loan restructuring, Rs122 as recoveries against bank loan default, Rs46bn as fines levied by the courts, and over Rs500bn in several ‘indirect recoveries’.
