SC commission submits report on 2005 quake funds

MANSEHRA: A commission, constituted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan to check embezzlement and corruption in $5 billion financial assistance donated by the international community in the wake of the 2005 earthquake, has submitted its report.

"We have submitted the report before three-member bench headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan and later were ordered to dispatch it to the prime minister for prompt action to address core issues faced by the earthquake survivors," Munir Hussain Laghmani Advocate, who is a member of the commission, told reporters here on Wednesday. Led by Mohammad Zeb Khan, the Personal Staff Officer to Peshawar High Court chief justice, the commission had recorded statements of representatives of Auditor General of Pakistan, Planning and Development, and finance, district administration and police departments and Earthquake Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority and visited the Balakot. Laghmani said the commission had compiled its report in two sections, recommendations and way out, adding that it also identified gray areas in its findings. "The chief justice had summoned all parties concerned on December 5, where if criminal liabilities are fixed, corruption cases would be initiated to take to justice those involved in plundering donations and grants only meant for survivor families," he added.