Pakistan uncovers Rs24 billion in irregularities in BISP program — The Express Tribune

Pakistan has uncovered financial irregularities worth Rs24 billion in the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), a social support program. According to documents submitted by the Ministry for Poverty Alleviation to the National Assembly, payments intended for low-income families were received by more than 140,000 government employees and pensioners.

As The Express Tribune reports, 140,488 government employees received program funds despite not being eligible. The irregularities were identified as early as 2019, but payments continued over the following six years.

Payments after the irregularities were identified

In the 2019–2020 financial year, government employees and pensioners received Rs23.13 billion. Another Rs900 million was paid after government employees had been identified among the recipients. According to official data, more than 12,000 employees received Rs146.7 million in the 2020–2021 financial year.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

The documents also contain data on 2,447 government employees who received payments in 2021–2022, 2,235 in 2022–2023, and 12,078 in 2024–2025. The recipients also included 236 BISP employees.

Only part of the funds was recovered

Rs710 million was recovered from the total amount of irregularities. The FIA recovered Rs540 million, other government agencies recovered Rs145 million, and BISP recovered another Rs21.5 million from its employees.

Information about employees suspected of involvement in the irregularities was forwarded to the relevant agencies for further action. The authorities also decided to verify the data of more than 600,000 government employees and pensioners.