Rs20 billion embezzled from PM’s free flour scheme, claims PML-N leader

• Abbasi says “corrupt and outdated” system cannot deliver masses.
• Marriyum says millions provided free flour with “full transparency”.
• Punjab caretaker minister rejects allegations, demands apology.

Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has claimed that Rs20 billion were embezzled from the federal government’s free flour distribution scheme.

Addressing a ceremony in Lahore, the ruling party leader said that the country’s system has become “so corrupt and outdated” that it cannot deliver.

He said corrupt government officials would be identified in the past “but today is the time when we have to look for honest officers”.

Abbasi asked what did poor get out of Rs84 billion subsidy allocated by the federal and provincial governments to provide free flour to the poor during the holy month of Ramazan.

“More than Rs20 billion were stolen in the government's free flour scheme,” he alleged.

Responding to his allegations, the Centre and the caretaker government of Punjab rejected his claims.

Federal Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said millions of poor people in Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Islamabad were provided free flour during the holy month with “full transparency and honesty”.

She said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif himself visited the flour distribution points in different cities.

The minister also lauded the efforts of administrative officers and other staffers involved in the free flour distribution for making the historic scheme successful.

Punjab caretaker Information Minister Amir Mir also rejected Abbasi’s allegation saying not even a single penny of corruption took place in the free flour scheme.

The free flour scheme has been the most successful scheme in the history of Punjab, he said adding that 30 million deserving people of Punjab benefited from the subsidy.

He said subjecting the flour subsidy to the party’s internal politics was unfair. “Shahid Khaqan Abbasi should either apologise or provide evidence,” the provincial minister demanded.