Senate Committee Unanimously Demands FIA and NAB Probe Into Foreign-Funded Power Projects

Pakistan's Senate Standing Committee on Economic Affairs Division (EAD) on Thursday unanimously resolved to brief the Prime Minister on alleged irregularities and corruption in foreign-funded power sector projects, and to formally request the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to open detailed investigations — bypassing the EAD after the division said it could not compel inquiries into another ministry's projects.

What the Committee Decided

The session, presided over by Senator Saifullah Abro, ended with a unanimous resolution on two fronts: take the matter directly to the Prime Minister's office, and write independently to the FIA and NAB requesting formal probes. The committee's focus is foreign-funded projects in the power sector, where members say they have identified significant financial irregularities — though specific project names have not been publicly disclosed.

The EAD is the federal division responsible for managing and coordinating foreign economic assistance, including loans, grants, and technical cooperation from bilateral and multilateral partners. Billions of dollars in international development finance flow annually into Pakistani power projects, covering energy transmission upgrades and generation facilities backed by institutions such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

EAD Pushes Back — and Senators Push Harder

The conflict began when an EAD section officer sent a letter suggesting the subject matter fell outside the committee's jurisdiction. Senator Kamran Murtaza said the letter raised a threshold question of whether the committee even had authority to proceed, warning that if jurisdiction was genuinely absent, the meeting itself would be without purpose.

Senator Kamil Ali Agha took a harder line, calling the letter an attempt to create confusion and divert parliamentary attention from serious irregularities. He described its tone as adversarial toward parliamentary oversight and warned that such bureaucratic manoeuvres could undermine the committee's efforts to ensure transparency and accountability in the use of foreign-funded resources.

Senator Agha advanced a pointed constitutional argument: the Senate's role is to monitor state institutions, and those who obtain foreign loans cannot unilaterally decide their operations are beyond parliamentary scrutiny. The EAD, for its part, maintained it has no legal authority to direct investigations into projects sitting under a different ministry — a structural limitation the committee considers insufficient justification for inaction.

Power Sector Foreign Loans and Circular Debt

Pakistan's power sector carries substantial foreign-denominated debt, much of it tied to Independent Power Producers (IPPs), transmission infrastructure, and distribution upgrades across entities including the National Transmission and Despatch Company (NTDC) and various Distribution Companies (DISCOs) such as LESCO, MEPCO, IESCO, PESCO, and K-Electric. Capacity payments — a core driver of Pakistan's circular debt, which has exceeded Rs. 2.4 trillion at recent estimates — are partly shaped by terms negotiated under foreign-funded project agreements.

The committee's decision to invoke the FIA and NAB signals that parliamentarians believe existing internal accountability mechanisms are not adequate. If investigations are formally initiated, they could cover project award processes, procurement decisions, cost overruns, and actual utilisation of loan proceeds across multiple sector entities.