LAHORE: Incumbent Punjab Chief Minister Hamza Shahbaz has ordered an investigation against his predecessor, Sardar Usman Buzdar, after an audit report accused him of nepotism in bestowing favors and facilitating contractors from his hometown of Taunsa Sharif during his tenure as the provincial chief executive.
The audit report disclosed that the former Punjab chief minister had approved contracts for his blue-eyed contractors to carry out development work in his hometown while causing a loss to the provincial exchequer.
A report prepared by Punjab’s Local Fund Audit Department said that Taunsa contracts were awarded to Rana Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, Shahid Manzoor and Aamir Suhail on nepotism.0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
According to media reports a contract worth Rs34.23 million was awarded to the blue-eyed company in Buzdar’s hometown to repair pipes and lines to repair and maintain the Water and Sewerage System and to purchase equipment such as submersible pumps.
The document showed that Iqbal was paid in two tranches of Rs920,955 and Rs857,825 on January 1, 2019, and January 2, 2019.
Moreover, Manzoor, together with Sohail, were paid a total of Rs32.45 million in just a short span of six months.
Manzoor was paid paid Rs596,200 on January 19, 2019, to buy submersible pumps. Subsequent payments were made in the next quarter.
Often when paying Manzoor and Sohail, they received up to three cheques in a single month. Once, they were even given three cheques in a single day.
But what did Taunsa get for all this expenditure?
The audit report said that the “work was done without any proper planning, estimation by the competent authority, recording measurement of work in MB, applying scheduled rates, site plans and agreement etc.”
