No corruption in DFID's aid programme under PMLN, PPP: Shafqat Mahmood.

LONDON -- Minister for Federal education and Professional Training Shafqat Mahmood has said that Britain's aid programme to Pakistan - run by the Department for International Development (DFID) - under the PMLN and PTI governments was 'by and large' corruption free and there was only one issue related to a construction matter.

Shafqat Mahmood was addressing a press conference at the Dorchester Hotel, arranged by businessman Aneel Musarrat. Mahmood has been in London for a week to attend the World Education Forum. Yaseem Qureshi MP, Afzal Khan MP, Imran Ahmed Khan MP, Lord Qurban Hussain, former MP Faisal Rasheed, Sahibza Jahangir and Rana Abdul Sattar were also present on the occasion.

Shafqat Mahmood said that by and large the DFID programme has been well managed and run properly under the PPP and PMLN government. He said that there has been only one issue around a construction matter.

The Federal Education Minister and PTI leader's statement has rebutted the sensational allegations made by the Mail on Sunday in an article in April 2016 in which the paper claimed that hundreds of millions of pounds in British aid are being poured into education in Pakistan - where corrupt officials have creamed off vast amounts of cash by creating thousands of fake teaching jobs and pocketing the salaries. The paper had claimed 'the fraud is just one of the scandals in education across Pakistan, to which Britain's Department for International Development (DFID) has committed APS700 million, supposedly to help the country's impoverished children'.

The education minister said: 'By and large it has been a good programme. It's for the DFID to assess whether the objectives were achieved or not. The DFID has a good relation with the provincial governments and we are asking them that we have informed them that we are forming a data centre at the federal level.'

Shafqat Mahmood said that according to his knowledge no corruption took place in the DFID...