New corruption scandal hits Pakistan’s biometric safety net program

Pakistan’s Benazir Income Support Program (BISP), a social protection scheme that pays cash benefits to nearly a quarter of the country’s citizens, is enduring a new scar of corruption after an audit implicated more than 300 officials.

According to local media reports, the country’s Auditor General recently found that 324 officials at different levels of the program’s management chain siphoned over 37 million Pakistani rupees, totalling about US$130,000.

Some of those indicated include Grade 22 officers who reportedly made their spouses benefit from a scheme meant for poor citizens. Grade-22 is the highest attainable rank for a Civil Servant in Pakistan.

The media reports indicate that BISP funds are stolen through various fraudulent means including fake or opaque biometric verification processes.

The Express Tribunes mentions that some of the fraud includes paying cash benefits to fake accounts such as those of dead persons. The outlet cites a recent report from an entity of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which revealed that more than Rs15 million (US$52,800) was paid into the accounts of dead persons in the past two years.

It also found that the Ehsaas Emergency Cash Programme equally suffered irregularities between 2021 and 2022, with about Rs 800 million paid to ineligible beneficiaries, many of them dead.

The report notes that combined payments to ineligible beneficiaries over the three-year period audited, amounted to Rs 96 billion (US$338,000).

Apart from outright theft of BISP funds, some officials are reportedly also involved in extortion where beneficiaries are forced to pay bribes when collecting their payment.

This latest scandal follows another one in March where some an audit report covering the 2023-2024 period flagged financial impropriety with the BISP amounting to around Rs 141 billion, that’s almost US$500,000, AP7am recalls in a commentary.

Another opinion piece by The Diplomat decries the intractable nature of corruption which has eaten deep into Pakistan’s social protection fabric. The opinion retraces the origin and purpose of the BISP which was operationalized in 2010 to support poor Pakistanis.

The BISP had reached about 58 million citizens by 2024, but despite its high social impact, entrenched and widespread corruption has undermined the aid distribution process, the writer regrets.

It mentions the 2023-2024 audit report which revealed that more than three million grant beneficiaries had funds without verified national ID cards, suggesting payments may have been misdirected.

A World Bank evaluation report the same year highlighted the successes and challenges of the BIST, stating that the biometrics-based cash support payment system has substantially contributed to the reduction of poverty in Pakistan.

Article Topics

biometrics  |  BISP  |  identity verification  |  Pakistan  |  social protection