LAHORE: The NAB on Saturday decided to carry out a probe into corruption allegations worth billions of rupees in the free flour distribution programme in Punjab.

Sensing that the corruption allegations in the scheme may haunt the incumbent caretaker set-up, Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi had asked the NAB to carry out a probe into the matter “to verify if anything of the sort has been done by any nefarious elements.”

Although the provincial caretaker government had declared over Rs20bn corruption allegations made by PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi regarding free flour scheme “false and fabricated,” it was advised by some ‘friends’ in the federal coalition to ‘get a clean chit’ from the anti-graft body before its tenure comes to an end.

Mr Abbasi had alleged that Rs20bn were embezzled during the free flour distribution scheme. “Recently, Rs84bn worth of free flour was distributed. I am sorry to say that approximately Rs20bn were looted,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2023