Farzana Raja is a Pakistani politician who served as chair of the Benazir Income Support Programme and has been a Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan. As of 2025,she is a proclaimed offender in Pakistan due to allegations of embezzlement during her tenure at BISP. She currently resides in the United States.
She was born on 2 January 1970.[1][2] She received her early education from Government High School in Chaklala,Rawalpindi and completed her college education from Viqar-u-Nisa College in Rawalpindi before obtaining a bachelor's degree from Punjab University in 1989. She has completed her Post Graduate Diploma in Humanitarian Action and Peace building from United Nations Institute of research/Oxford Brooks University UK.[1][2]
In 2012,she was inducted into the federal cabinet of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani without portfolio[6] and was give the status of a federal minister.[1] She was retained in the federal cabinet of incoming Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf.[1][7]
Controversies and Legal Issues
In 2016,the National Accountability Bureau summoned Farzana Raja for questioning in connection with an alleged embezzlement of approximately Rs3 billion in BISP funds.[8] The investigation focused on irregularities in the awarding of advertising contracts during her tenure.
In June 2021,an accountability court in Islamabad declared Raja a proclaimed offender and issued non-bailable arrest warrants in connection with alleged corruption during her tenure at BISP. The charges involve the embezzlement of approximately Rs540 million in BISP funds. The court ordered her name to be placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) and her Computerized National Identity Card (CNIC) to be blocked.[9]
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