NAB finds suspected financial irregularities in Rs100 billion KP Cities Improvement Project

Citing The News, Profit by Pakistan Today said the National Accountability Bureau has flagged possible lapses in a preliminary probe of the Rs100 billion Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cities Improvement Project (KPCIP). Investigators reportedly found receipts missing for some payments, and certain banks did not keep details of recipients' accounts. It wants documents covering money paid to suppliers, builders and revenue agencies, from the PMU, a bank and the finance ministry.

Another problem was a mismatch running into millions of rupees between cheque ledger entries and SAP records for contractor payments. Money released as compensation for acquired land in Swat, Abbottabad and Kohat reportedly failed to reach a number of landowners. NAB also wants payment files for 2023 to 2025 from the Accountant General and project management, plus district bank statements and compensation records.

The KPCIP Project Director dismissed doubts about the gaps, insisting each payment went straight into beneficiaries' bank accounts and that proof was handed to auditors. He explained that some payments came directly from the Asian Development Bank and never appeared in the SAP ledger, so merging both streams should clear up the mismatch. On compensation, he said the money was passed to deputy commissioners, and that most landowners had been paid while the rest were held up by litigation, administrative problems and trouble reaching beneficiaries.