PAC told: EOBI paid Rs2.79bn to over 5,000 fake pensioners

ISLAMABAD: The audit officials of the department of Auditor General of Pakistan revealed in the Public Accounts Committee that Rs2.79 billion in Old Age Benefit Pension was wrongly given to 5,131 people by changing their age.

The meeting of the Public Accounts Committee was presided over by Chairman Junaid Akbar, in which the audit reports of the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis for the financial 22-23 and 2023-24 were examined. Audit officials told the Public Accounts Committee that the Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) paid Rs2.79 bn to fake pensioners in the form of Old Age Benefit Pension by changing the age of the employees.

The audit authorities said that the data of 5,000 pensioners out of 800,000 pensioners is incorrect. The pension was issued to men under 60 years of age and women under 55 years of age. Even 31-year-olds have received a pension, the Audit officials said. The audit authorities obtained this data by checking the date of birth on the pension data and found that they were born in 1950 and 1960. The chairman of EOBI said that the pension was given in line with the date of birth mentioned based on the matriculation certificates.

Junaid Akbar asked about the recourse when the age on the matriculation certificate and the identity card is different. He called for standardisation of the procedure, so that either the pension is given based on the identity card or the matric certificate. The chairman of EOBI said that from now on, the pensions will be issued based on the identity card using NADRA data. The PAC directed the ministry to inquire into the entire matter and submit a report within a month.

While examining another audit para, the Audit officials said that EOBI has not recovered Rs 2.47 billion from 2,864 institutions. The EOBI officials told the committee that last year Rs66 billion were recovered and this year Rs72 billion have been recovered so far.