Islamabad:

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) was informed on Wednesday that age for employees of the age objects Institution Institution (EOBI) will be determined on the basis of the CNIC post instead of matriculation certificate and pensioners will receive an increase in their pensions from May 1.

The committee was also told that Eobi paid out RS2.79 billion among 5,131 fake retirees.

A meeting with PAC under the chairman of the Junaid Akbar vetted the audit parases in the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis.

During the meeting, the audit officials stated the committee that Eobi had paid out RS2.79 billion to unjustified or false retirees.

According to the audit report, out of approx. 800,000 retirees, it turned out that data from over 5,000 people were wrong. Pensions were issued to people whose birth dates did not match their CNIC and matriculation certificates. In some cases, men under the age of 60 and women under 55 pensions received in violation of the criteria for eligibility.

The audit officials revealed that age manipulation was used to provide pensions to more than 5,000 unqualified individuals.

EOBI officials informed the committee that the institution’s fund is currently on RS600 billion. They added that there are about 10 million companies in the country and any business with at least 10 employees must register with EOBI. They said they verify the benefits of the recipients through CNIC and other sources.

The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis said pension cases would be settled now on the basis of CNIC, adding that EOBI pensions will be raised from May 1st.

PAC President Junaid Akbar Khan said there should be a standard criteria to determine the age of pensioners. The Eobi chairman said they would now issue pensions based on CNICs using Nadras data.

The Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis requested a month’s time to fix problems. The committee ordered the Ministry to investigate the matter and submit a report within a month.

Auditing officials also revealed that Eobi had not recovered RS2.47 billion from 2,864 institutions. Eobi officials said these institutions did not register their full workforce and did not pay their proper amounts. Eobi has recovered RS1.53 billion, but still worked on recovering RS1 billion, partly because some recovery cases were stuck in court.

The chairman of the committee ordered Eobi officials to end the recovery within a month.