FIA Registers Rs12 Billion Electricity Fraud Case Against Executives

Legal & Regulatory Update: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has registered a criminal case against the chief executive and five directors of two local industrial companies, along with four former Faisalabad Electric Supply Company (FESCO) chief executive officers, over alleged fraudulent electricity transactions that reportedly caused an estimated Rs12 billion loss to the national exchequer, according to The News.

As part of the investigation, the FIA arrested one of the company’s directors at Lahore Airport.

The agency has also taken into custody former FESCO Chief Executive Officers Khurshid Alam and Ahmad Saeed Khan. A competent court has granted the FIA five-day physical remand of both individuals to facilitate further investigation.

The remaining accused have reportedly been placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) pending completion of the ongoing inquiry.

The case has been registered as FIR No. 35/2026 at the FIA Composite Circle Faisalabad under Section 5(2)/47 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Sections 34, 109, 409, 419, 420, 467, 468, and 471 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

According to the FIR, the accused include the chief executive and five directors of the two industrial companies, as well as former FESCO Chief Executive Officers Ahmad Saeed Akhtar, Tanveer Safdar Cheema, Khurshid Alam, and Rashid Aslam.

The FIA alleges that the accused acted in collusion between 2007 and 2015 to manipulate electricity purchase and sale arrangements, enabling the companies to obtain unlawful financial benefits while causing substantial losses to the public treasury.

Investigators further allege that one of the companies sold electricity to FESCO at rates exceeding those approved by the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA), while both companies simultaneously received electricity from FESCO as bulk power consumers at subsidised tariffs.

The investigation also alleges that one company unlawfully availed concessional electricity tariff benefits.

Additionally, the FIA claims that the second company secured subsidised natural gas from Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) by representing itself as a captive power plant, while simultaneously portraying itself before NEPRA as a small power producer through allegedly misleading documentation. The allegations remain subject to investigation and judicial proceedings.