Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Monday declared former chairperson of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Farzana Raja a Proclaimed Offender (PO) after her continuous absence from the court hearings.
According to details, during a hearing of a reference against corruption in BISP, non-bailable arrest warrants were issued against PPP’s Farzana Raja after her continuous absence from the court hearings.
The court also ordered that Farzana Raja’s NIC should be blocked and her name be placed on the ECL.
It merits mention that National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rawalpindi bureau had filed a reference against former chairperson BISP Farzana Raja and others accused of alleged corruption in Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) in March last year.
According to anti-graft watchdog, Farzana Raja had allotted illegal contracts to four advertising companies that inflicted Rs46 billion loss to the support program.
Last year, Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Accountability Shahzad Akbar had announced, the government had referred cases against more than 2,000 government employees who fraudulently benefited from the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) to the Federal Investigation Agency.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Akbar said the government has also written to all chief secretaries and the Establishment Division for taking departmental action against, and recovering funds from, the government officers who benefited from BISP, which is aimed at providing financial support to the deserving poor and destitute.
