The Chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Lieutenant General (retired) Nazir Ahmed Butt, has announced a major crackdown against the power plants.
While briefing the media on Monday, he said that the officials of the NAB have recovered government assets worth Rs26.1 trillion since March 2023 and are preparing to pursue cases involving power plants.
According to the third-quarter report of NAB, the department has recovered assets valued at Rs9.18 trillion between July and September 2026, bringing the total value of reported recoveries during 2026 to Rs14.6 trillion.
The figures include the estimated value of land and other assets recovered or secured by the bureau.
NAB said its recoveries included 235,622 kanals of Pakistan Railways land, valued at Rs6.78 trillion.
It also reported recovering 866,299 acres of land belonging to various provincial government departments, with an estimated value of Rs2.395 trillion.
The figures represent the bureau’s valuation of the assets rather than necessarily cash collected by the government.
NAB has not provided a detailed breakdown in the information released of how much of the reported recovery value was received in cash, returned in property or secured through other measures.
He described the undertaking as significant and said the bureau was ready to challenge powerful interests.
Butt said preparatory work on power-sector matters had been completed and indicated that NAB would not engage in further negotiations over tariffs.
He did not identify the power plants involved or publicly detail the allegations under consideration.
NAB’s reported recovery figures cover a range of assets, including land, and should not be interpreted as equivalent to cash returned to the national treasury.
The bureau’s proposed action in the power sector could also attract scrutiny, given the sector’s importance to Pakistan’s electricity costs and public finances.
