Govt constitutes inquiry commission to probe public debt in 2008-18 period

ISLAMABAD: The government has constituted a Commission of Inquiry to probe the public debt during the 2008-2018 period, a notification issued Friday read.

According to the notification, a copy of which is available with Geo News, the commission's goal is the "determination of significance of major infrastructure or public sector development works conducted from the years 2008 to 2018, and commensurate them with the increase in public debt from Rs. 6,690 billion in 2008 to Rs. 30,846 billion till September, 2018".

The National Accountability Bureau's (NAB) Hussain Asghar has been assigned as the chairperson of the inquiry committee.

The inquiry commission, the notification added, comprises 12 members, and will include representatives of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Military Intelligence (MI), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), NAB, and the Accountant General Pakistan Revenues (AGPR).

The commission will also investigate if the public funds were used for personal or private expenses, the notification added. It will further review if there were any violations of the Fiscal Responsibility and Debt Limitation Act, 2005, and if so, what were the reasons.

The commission will prepare a report in six months.