Flood Relief Fund will be audited to ensure transparency: PM Shehbaz

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Saturday announced that the federal government has decided to get Prime Minister Flood Relief Fund audited by Accountant General Pakistan Revenues (AGPR) and a private audit firm of global standing to ensure transparency.

Taking to Twitter, the prime minister said: “As per my commitment to ensuring transparency, the Government has decided to get PM Flood Relief Fund audited by AGPR and a private audit firm of global standing.”

“They will audit all incoming & outgoing funds including where & how the money is spent.”
“They will audit all incoming & outgoing funds including where & how the money is spent.”

As per my commitment to ensure transparency, Government has decided to get PM Flood Relief Fund audited by AGPR & a private audit firm of global standing. They will audit all incoming & outgoing funds including where & how the money is spent.The audit reports will be made public.

— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) September 3, 2022

He further said that the audit reports will be made public.

The relief fund was established last month to help the people affected by the floods and appealed to the public to contribute.

The toll from cataclysmic floods in Pakistan continued to climb on Saturday with 29 more deaths, 25 of them children, as the country grapples with a relief and rescue operation of near unprecedented scale.

A high-level body set up to coordinate the relief effort met in Islamabad on Saturday for the first time, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, to take stock of the disaster.

Record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in northern mountains brought floods that have affected 33 million people and killed at least 1,290 people, including 441 children. The inundation, blamed on climate change, is still spreading.

Initial estimates of the damage have been put at $10 billion, but surveys are still being conducted along with international organisations.