Federal govt transfers millions in Hajj funds to wrong Saudi account

ISLAMABAD: The government of Pakistan has deposited the money of Hajj pilgrims into the wrong Saudi account, putting over 67,000 Pakistanis at risk of missing the Hajj pilgrimage.

National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, chaired by Malik Muhammad Aamir Dogar, was informed regarding the major financial error.

The Hajj Organizers Association of Pakistan (HOAP) revealed that 50 million Saudi riyals ($13.3m) in Hajj funds were transferred to an account reportedly linked to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The Director General (DG) of Hajj was supposed to transfer the funds to Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj, which was not done, causing a delay of over a month in retrieving the funds.

A HOAP representative claimed that despite not being officially informed of the October 23 deadline for submitting Hajj payments to the Saudi government, private tour operators sent the required funds five days before the deadline.

The Saudi authorities were reportedly unable to locate the funds in their digital systems, prompting a recovery effort that took over a month, the committee was informed.

“This error led to Saudi authorities searching for the funds in their digital systems while our money remained in a different account,” the HOAP representative informed the committee.

Responding to Dogar’s questioning, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, federal minister for religious affairs and interfaith harmony, expressed regret and assured the committee that efforts were underway to recover the funds.

Committee Chairman questioned how such a critical error occurred and demanded accountability of those responsible, stating that the incident jeopardized the pilgrimage of over 67,000 Pakistani pilgrims.