A major financial scandal has surfaced in Punjab’s flagship cleanliness drive as the Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) has registered a case against more than a dozen officials of the Faisalabad Waste Management Company (FWMC) over alleged large-scale embezzlement in the ‘Suthra Punjab’ programme.
According to officials, an inquiry revealed that funds exceeding Rs1 billion were allegedly misappropriated during the execution of projects under the provincial sanitation initiative. The First Information Report (FIR) was lodged at the Anti-Corruption Establishment police station in Lahore after investigators uncovered multiple instances of financial and administrative irregularities.
Among those named in the case are former FWMC Chief Executive Officer Muhammad Rauf, Manager Operations Abdullah Nazeer Bajwa, Manager IT Asad Elahi, Manager Finance Ahsan Nadeem, Transport Officer Arshad Saleem, and Procurement Manager Waqas Asghar, along with several other officials.
The investigation found that salaries were allegedly drawn for 633 non-existent sanitation workers through fabricated attendance records, resulting in substantial losses to the public exchequer. Authorities also discovered discrepancies in equipment records, as official documents listed 2,317 waste containers, while only 1,717 were physically verified on the ground.
Further scrutiny revealed that lower-cost loader rickshaws were reportedly deployed instead of higher-priced mini dumpers, even though payments continued to be processed as if premium machinery was in use. Investigators also pointed to alleged manipulation of data related to waste enclosures and dumping sites, inflated billing, and misuse of tracking system records to justify fund disbursements.
Anti-corruption officials confirmed that several suspects have been taken into custody and stated that the investigation is ongoing, with more developments expected as authorities continue to probe the alleged financial misconduct.
