The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) has uncovered corruption worth Rs1 billion in Faisalabad’s Suthra Punjab sanitation project, booking 12 officials and contractors in the case.
According to the FIR [First Information Report], digital data was manipulated to siphon funds from the project. The contractor, M/s Care Consortium, engaged for waste management services in urban and rural areas of Faisalabad, stands accused of receiving extra payments through wrong entries and data manipulation in the project’s digital portal.
The FIR states that the contractor, in connivance with IT and operations staff of the Faisalabad Waste Management Company (FWMC), caused a loss of Rs1 billion to the national exchequer. Ghost waste enclosures and employees were also used as methods to extract money from the project.
Those booked include former CEO/MD of FWMC Muhammad Raoof, Manager Operations Abdullah Nazir Bajwa, Manager Asad Elahi, Manager Finance Ahsan Nadim, Transport Officer Arshad Ansari, Sanitary Inspector Abid, Manager Procurement Waqas Asghar, District Manager FWMC Hafiz Tayyab and contractors Muhammad Farooq Khan, Muhammad Qaisar, Muhammad Shafiq and Rai Qamar Zaman.
While the case has been registered under sections 409, 166, 420, 468 and 471 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari said that the corruption was detected through a live dashboard monitoring system.
“In the Suthra Punjab Programme, corruption in Faisalabad was timely detected through a modern live dashboard monitoring system, and the case was immediately referred to anti-corruption authorities,” she stated.
Bokhari added that Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Maryam Nawaz personally initiated accountability of the project and ensured action against those responsible. She also said that upon noticing irregularities, the CM dispatched a special audit team to the site.
“The investigation team, after reaching the field, exposed an organized nexus between contractors and certain government officials,” she remarked.
The development comes days after the Punjab government rolled out an AI-based sanitation monitoring system across the province, bringing thousands of workers and vehicles under digital oversight as part of the Suthra Punjab initiative.
