The national exchequer suffered a Rs4.7 billion loss as a mega fraud scandal at Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) was unearthed on Monday.

According to the 24NewsHD TV channel, favoured consumers in LESCO illegally benefited over three years, which caused a loss of Rs 4.7 billion to the national exchequer.

The sources revealed that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has initiated an investigation and sought LESCO's record for three years.

As per the report, NAB sought records from LESCO regarding refunds issued to consumers over the past three years as officers caused this financial loss by providing credits at Rs361 per unit.

Additionally, bills amounting to Rs1.57 billion were issued without the allocation of units, the sources said.

NAB has also demanded records from the tenure of former LESCO Chief Chaudhry Muhammad Amin, as well as records of the appointments of current LESCO Chief Shahid Haider and former Director of Customer Services Rai Asghar, the sources said.

As per the report, the concerned Executive Engineers (EXENs) and the Director of Customer Services have been identified as the responsible authorities in this illegal refund scheme.

Reporter: Shahid Sipra