KARACHI: Former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail has strongly denied allegations that his family’s company unfairly benefited from World Food Programme (WFP) contracts tied to Pakistan’s Benazir Nashonuma Programme (BNP), calling the claims politically motivated and threatening legal action, media reported on Sunday.
“If the minister has evidence of my involvement in any wrongdoing […] I advise him to proceed against me in NAB or FIA. Otherwise, I intend to take legal action for defamation,” Miftah said in a post on X urging Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr Tariq Fazal Chaudhry to substantiate the claims in court.
The controversy emerged during a Senate session on July 25, when Chaudhry alleged that a ex-minister’s firm was the sole supplier of specialised nutrition under the BNP and that Pakistan’s procurement rules had not been followed. Senator Anusha Rahman of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) further questioned the transparency of the programme’s ballooning budget.
At the centre of the controversy is a sharp increase in the programme’s budget from Rs2 billion to Rs21.5 billion in 2022-23, during Ismail’s tenure as finance minister. Ismail Industries, a company owned by Ismail’s family, has been a long-time supplier to the World Food Programme (WFP), which procures specialised nutrition products for the BNP.
Miftah clarified that Ismail Industries has supplied WFP under international procurement protocols for over two decades, across multiple countries. “Every packet that WFP buys from us is through an international tender,” he said, adding that the BNP contract predated his term in office and continued after his departure.
He accused Dr Chaudhry and Senator Anusha Rehman of seeking political mileage rather than the truth. “Five minutes studying the issue would have satisfied any reasonable and honourable person that there is no corruption or wrongdoing,” he wrote in the post.
According to documents shared in the Senate, WFP handled procurement and logistics for the nutrition programme using its own internal processes and audit systems. Pakistani public procurement rules and audit mechanisms were not applied.
In his defence, Chaudhry said on Saturday that the allegations raised in the Senate regarding the BNP and its connection to former finance minister Ismail’s company were based on official records, not personal accusations. -Agencies
