PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has made a major breakthrough in the Rs40 billion Kohistan corruption scandal, arresting eight individuals allegedly involved in one of the largest financial fraud cases in the history of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Those taken into custody include top government officials, banking staff, and private contractors. The scandal revolves around fake development projects, forged treasury cheques, embezzlement, and large-scale money laundering in Upper Kohistan District.
The corruption watchdog has earlier claimed to have recovered Rs25 from suspects in the case.
According to NAB, the arrested individuals are Shafiq-ur-Rehman Qureshi, the District Accounts Officer of Upper Kohistan who is believed to be the mastermind behind the scheme; Muhammad Riaz, a former bank cashier who operated as a frontman for dummy contractors; Fazal Hussain, an auditor from the Accountant General’s Office in Peshawar; and Tahir Tanveer, a former bank manager. The remaining four individuals, Duraj Khan, Amir Saeed, Subedar, and Muhammad Ayub, are contractors who allegedly ran fake construction firms used to funnel public funds.
Investigations reveal that the suspects manipulated budget head G-10113 by authorizing forged treasury cheques for non-existent development projects in Upper Kohistan.
Public money was illegally transferred through fake billing, forged approvals, and benami accounts, with strong evidence pointing to collusion between the suspects and officials in the Communications and Works (C&W) Department. Several banks are also under scrutiny for facilitating the illegal transfers.
Shafiq-ur-Rehman Qureshi reportedly played a central role in processing fraudulent transactions by misusing his position as District Accounts Officer. Fake firms were set up on paper, while ground-level development never occurred.
These actions led to the misappropriation of over Rs40 billion from government funds intended for regional infrastructure and welfare programs.
NAB has confirmed that the investigation is still ongoing and is expected to expand further. Sources within the bureau indicate that more arrests are imminent as forensic audits and document reviews continue.
The sheer scale of the fraud has raised urgent concerns about the lack of oversight and transparency in development funding, particularly in remote and underserved regions like Kohistan.