NAB recovers Rs 168.5bln in BRT Peshawar investigation

PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Sunday announced a recovery of Rs 168.5 billion in the BRT Peshawar project, the biggest recovery in the bureau’s 25-year history.

Investigations into the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project began in 2018, amid allegations of illegal contract awards and misappropriation of funds.

In this case, NAB saw the rejection of Rs 31.5 billion claim of the contractors in the International Arbitration Court.

Investigations revealed that six major contracts were wrongly awarded to specific companies, which later violated their terms. More than 400 bank accounts were examined, revealing further evidence of corruption.

The contractors submitted fake guarantees and delayed the completion of the project, leading to a demand of Rs 86 billion in damages from the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA).

NAB’s efforts resulted in savings of Rs 108.5 billion and additional financial expenditure of Rs 9 billion was saved by completing the project within the original cost framework.

The investigation revealed that the contractors failed to complete the work within the stipulated period, with foreign companies stepping in to complete the projects.

NAB noted that contractors submitted bogus audit reports, foreign companies were investigated by their respective embassies. 5 billion was claimed by the contractors citing cost overruns, delayed payments and interest charges.