Pakistani Hajj pilgrims’ funds transferred to wrong account, scandal unfolds

ISLAMABAD: Shocking details have emerged in the Hajj 2025 scandal in Pakistan, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

The Hajj Organizers Association of Pakistan (HOAP) revealed that millions of Saudi Riyals in Hajj funds were transferred to the wrong account which jeopardized the pilgrimage of over 67,000 Pakistani pilgrims.

The major financial mismanagement was revealed during a meeting of the Standing Committee on Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony, chaired by Malik Muhammad Aamir Dogar, in Islamabad.

A HOAP representative claimed that despite not being officially informed of the October 23 deadline for submitting Hajj payments to the Saudi government, private tour operators sent the required funds five days before the deadline.

However, 50 million Saudi Riyals were erroneously deposited into the account of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), via the office of the Director General (DG) Hajj, instead of the designated Saudi Hajj account, causing a delay of over a month in retrieving the funds.

“We weren’t officially informed of the October 23 deadline but we learned about it through social media,” the representative told the committee. Despite this, the required funds were sent five days before the deadline, he added.

HOAP claimed that initial payments for all the 77,000 pilgrims of private scheme were made before February 14.

The Saudi authorities were reportedly unable to locate the funds in their digital systems, prompting a recovery effort that took over a month, the committee was informed.

“This error led to Saudi authorities searching for the funds in their digital systems while our money remained in a different account,” the HOAP representative informed the committee.

HOAP representative further alleged that private tour operators were barred from collecting Hajj applications from pilgrims, claiming that the Ministry of Religious Affairs prioritized fulfilling quotas under the government scheme, creating obstacles for private companies to meet their own deadlines.

Committee Chairman Malik Amir Dogar questioned how such a critical error occurred and demanded accountability of those responsible, stating that the incident jeopardized the pilgrimage of over 67,000 Pakistani pilgrims.

The Secretary of the Ministry of Religious Affairs expressed unawareness of the transaction error and suggested questioning the Director General (DG) Hajj for details.

Committee Chairperson Malik Amir Dogar described the incident as “a biggest scandal in the country’s history,” emphasizing that both the ministry and private operators were responsible.

Committee member, Shagufta Jumani, held the Secretary Religious Affairs and DG Hajj accountable, saying the policy failures stemmed from within the ministry itself.

She proposed the formation of a sub-committee to meet the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and request intervention to resolve the crisis.

Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Sardar Muhammad Yousaf, stated that that he is unaware of the findings of the inquiry committee set up by the Prime Minister.

He noted that Saudi authorities had allocated a quota of 2,000 pilgrims per company, and that Pakistan’s total quota of 179,610 pilgrims—both public and private—was not fully utilized.

He acknowledged that a committee led by Musadik Malik has been formed to avoid future mismanagement.