LAHORE: The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) has failed to take action against officials and contractors allegedly involved in over Rs1bn corruption in the Suthra Punjab project in Faisalabad. No arrest has been made in the case.

As the ACE expressed its inability to arrest the suspects, more details of the modus operandi of the suspects surfaced on Saturday. “No arrest has been made as yet in this case,” an ACE official confirmed while speaking to Dawn on Saturday.

However, he said further investigation in this respect was underway.

The ACE had booked former CEO/MD of Faisalabad Waste Management Company (FWMC) Muhammad Rauf, manager operations Abdullah Nazir Bajwa, manager Asad Elahi, manager finance Ahsan Nadim, transport officer Arshad Ansari, sanitary inspector Abid, manager procurement Waqas Asghar, district manager Hafiz Tayyab, and the contractors, M/s Care Consortium -- Muhammad Farooq Khan, Muhammad Qaisar, Muhammad Shafiq and Rai Qamar Zaman, under of the PPC.

The contractors, in connivance with the staff of IT and operation of the FWMC, caused a loss of Rs1bn to the national exchequer.

Although the Punjab government tried to take the credit of exposing this corruption, questions are being raised as to how such a huge misappropriation of funds in the flagship project of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has been committed with such audacity. The Suthra Punjab project, encompassing various provincial urban and rural sanitation upgrades, was initially conceptualized as a multi-billion initiative with estimates frequently cited around Rs170bn.

Recently, Chief Minister Maryam referred to international standards in the countries like Japan and Singapore where cleanliness was maintained round the clock, directing the bureaucracy to ensure effective monitoring but it appears the project lacks ‘strict monitoring mechanism,’ allowing the corrupt elements to exploit the loopholes in the system.

An official told Dawn that the M/s Care Consortium was awarded in 2024 and this firm, in collusion with the officials of the FWMC, embezzled a huge sum of money (Rs1bn) during November 2004 and April 2026.

“The suspects showed 2,317 (waste) containers deployed at various points on papers and received an amount against them. In actuality, they placed only 1,717 containers. Similarly, they also did not place mini-dumpers but received an amount against them. They also showed 633 ghost sanitary workers and withdrew salaries against them. The firm was supposed to install 118 waste enclosures but only 33 were set up and would receive an amount against 118 enclosures,” he said.

The official further said that to mint money, the firm in question, in connivance with the FWMC, manipulated the data of the vehicles used for waste collection besides manipulation in the digital portal.

“Not only should legal proceedings be initiated against those involved in this mega corruption, the monetary losses caused to the public exchequer should be recovered,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2026