Pakistan’s Public Accounts Committee has exposed an alleged embezzlement of Rs165.6 million from the country’s embassy in Austria and summoned the head of the Federal Investigation Agency to explain why a six-year-old investigation has produced no significant progress. The Austria embassy embezzlement case, taken up by the committee on Wednesday, 4 November 2026, has once again raised serious questions about financial oversight at Pakistan’s diplomatic missions abroad.
The committee, chaired by Acting Chairman Syed Naveed Qamar, was reviewing audit objections relating to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when auditors laid out the scale of the alleged fraud. The hearing uncovered billions of rupees in financial irregularities across foreign missions, but it was the Vienna case that drew the sharpest criticism from the committee.
What the Austria embassy embezzlement involved
Audit officials informed the committee that Salman Qureshi, a former accountant at Pakistan’s embassy in Austria, had allegedly transferred Rs165.6 million from the mission’s account into personal bank accounts belonging to himself and his wife. The committee was told that the alleged embezzlement had continued for approximately two years before it was detected.
The matter was referred to the Federal Investigation Agency, which registered two first information reports (FIRs) against the accused. FIA officials told the committee that Qureshi had been arrested but subsequently secured post-arrest bail. They added that a challan in the anti-money laundering case had also recently been submitted.
The Auditor General observed during the hearing that accounting was a specialised profession requiring qualified and trained personnel, adding that financial losses of such magnitude could not have resulted from the actions of an assistant alone. The foreign secretary told the committee that accountants posted abroad were provided three months of training, but Naveed Qamar questioned whether such a short training period could turn someone into a fully qualified accountant.
Six years on, no significant progress
Expressing dissatisfaction with the FIA’s handling of the case, Naveed Qamar said six years had passed without any significant progress, describing the agency’s performance as extremely disappointing. “It appears that the FIA only focuses on political cases,” he remarked during the hearing.
Committee member Rana Qasim Noon called for action against the FIA as well, while Shazia Marri said the money at the centre of the Austria embassy embezzlement case belonged to Pakistan and the case should serve as an example. The foreign secretary said that every amount, whether one dollar or one euro, was important.
The committee directed the foreign secretary to conduct a fresh inquiry into the Austria embassy embezzlement and submit a report within 30 days, after discrepancies emerged between figures provided by the audit authorities and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It also summoned the FIA director general to attend its next meeting and directed the Foreign Office to appoint qualified accountants at Pakistani embassies and missions abroad.
A wider pattern across missions
The Austria embassy embezzlement case was not the only irregularity before the committee. The hearing was told that Pakistan’s embassy in Berlin had made unauthorised use of 360,000 euros from the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) account as a loan, an amount equivalent to more than Rs100 million that has not been returned despite the passage of over three years. The committee directed the HEC to recover the amount within three months.
The committee was also informed about an alleged embezzlement of Rs29 million at Pakistan’s embassy in Bulgaria. An inquiry launched in September 2026 has been delayed because officials could not travel abroad under government austerity restrictions, and the PAC recommended allowing necessary official travel to investigate financial irregularities.
In addition, the committee examined unspent HEC funds, including more than Rs1.22 billion held at Pakistan’s embassy in the United States without distribution to students. It also reviewed questionable community welfare spending in Abu Dhabi and other financial irregularities involving diplomatic missions in Dhaka and Vienna.
What happens next
The FIA director general will now have to appear before the committee at its next meeting to explain the slow pace of the Austria embassy embezzlement investigation. The foreign secretary’s fresh inquiry report is due within 30 days, and the HEC has three months to recover the 360,000 euros withdrawn by the Berlin mission.
The committee’s review of the Foreign Office’s audit objections for 2023-24 is continuing, and further hearings are expected as auditors work through billions of rupees in flagged irregularities. The Austria embassy embezzlement proceedings will continue at the committee’s next meeting, when the FIA chief is due to appear. For now, the message from the PAC is clear: the money belonged to Pakistan, and those responsible for watching over it abroad will have to answer for it.
The committee’s proceedings were reported by The News and TechJuice.
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