Peshawar, Pakistan: Pakistani media headlines are heavily dominated by major financial corruption scandals and massive auditing irregularities involving the PTI’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provincial government. Official reports and leaked documents have exposed multi-billion-rupee discrepancies, institutional public works scams, deep-seated structural and budgetary flaws, and targeted investigations against top provincial leadership for the 2024–25 fiscal year.
According to official information and data, investigations have intensified against former KP Chief Minister Sohail Afridi regarding alleged financial irregularities worth billions of rupees. Information Adviser Samar Haroon Bilour confirmed to the press that Afridi is currently held in “protective custody” while evidence is actively being gathered.
Early inquiry findings highlight massive corruption and financial wrongdoing within the Sehat Card program, alongside structural irregularities spanning multiple provincial departments. Arrest warrants have been officially issued, and authorities plan to transfer the cases to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Anti-Corruption Establishment once preliminary inquiries wrap up.
An official report has exposed a massive financial scam under the public works budget head (G10113), indicating severe systemic corruption or deep institutional collusion. Between 2016 and April 2025, over Rs16.54 billion in excess payments were disbursed across 29 districts. While Rs146.59 billion were officially credited to the accounts, a total of Rs163.13 billion was paid out, leaving a massive, unexplained deficit.
The Controller General of Accounts (CGA) noted that the total suspected misappropriation could balloon up to Rs56.5 billion. The probe points to deliberate manipulation and collaborative siphoning of public funds by the Communications and Works (C&W), Public Health Engineering, and Irrigation Departments.
Newly leaked government audit reports for the 2024–25 fiscal year have uncovered compounding structural flaws, incomplete records, and severe procurement weaknesses across various provincial organs:
- SAP Accounting System Abuse: Auditors flagged Rs104.26 billion entered into the SAP financial accounting system that completely exceeded the budget approved by the Provincial Assembly. These entries have raised serious questions regarding the transparency and integrity of the provincial government’s financial system.
- Unverified Expenditures: Government expenditures totaling Rs72.46 billion in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could not be fully verified or supported by documentation.
- Public Account Deficit: The audit report identified a staggering negative balance of Rs39.58 billion in the provincial Public Account, indicating extreme financial mismanagement where payments routinely overshot receipts.
- Misclassification of Funds: Development expenditures amounting to Rs153.68 billion were recorded under incorrect accounting heads. The misclassification of development funds as recurring (current) expenditures has revealed serious flaws in the government’s financial statements.
- Targeted Budgetary Excesses: Disclosures show excess entries amounting to Rs20.2 billion in one specific category of the provincial development budget, alongside excess entries worth billions of rupees in the budgets for health, education, police, highways, and other key departments.
- Institutional Mismanagement: A distinct audit report brought to light Rs3.58 billion in blatant irregularities, public procurement weaknesses, and illegal contract approvals cutting across 14 separate KP government departments during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) tenure. Meanwhile, specialized corruption and terrible administrative planning within the KP Economic Zones Development and Management Company (KPEZDMC) drew sharp criticism for draining the national exchequer by Rs18.46 billion.
The federal and provincial audit reports have raised significant questions regarding financial oversight and budgetary transparency due to incomplete records of government loans:
- Foreign Loan Discrepancies: Accounting records for foreign loans totaling Rs98.89 billion are incomplete. Auditors raised serious objections due to the total unavailability of complete details regarding the receipt and repayment of foreign loans, as well as grants. Furthermore, payments totaling Rs51.85 billion made against foreign loans and interest could not be verified.
- Outdated Debt Tracking: It has been revealed that the records for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s domestic debt have not been updated since the 2017-18 fiscal year. More alarmingly, the federal audit report points out that records of loans obtained from the federal government have been left un-updated since the 2013-14 fiscal year.
Senior auditors warn that these combined structural flaws in the accounts concerning expenditures, development funds, and foreign loans threaten the foundational financial stability of the province.
