ISLAMABAD: An official at Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah on Tuesday rejected reports that Hajj funds of thousands of Pakistani pilgrims had been transferred to the wrong bank account, reiterating that the Kingdom’s electronic Hajj system operated with the “highest standards of transparency.”

Local news outlets this month published reports that Pakistani pilgrims could face delays in the Hajj journey as millions of Saudi Riyals meant for their expenses were mistakenly sent to an account linked to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) instead of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Hajj. 

This year’s annual pilgrimage will take place in June, with nearly 89,000 Pakistanis expected to travel to Saudi Arabia under the government scheme and 23,620 Pakistanis through private tour operators. The total quota granted to Pakistan was 179,210, which could not be met. 

“Recent claims in some Pakistani media outlets about ‘Hajj funds being sent to the wrong Saudi account’ are baseless and stem from a misunderstanding of the Hajj account management system and the ministry’s official electronic Hajj platform, which ensures the highest standards of transparency and accuracy,” the Saudi official said in a statement. 

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has formed a committee to investigate why the total Hajj quota granted by Saudi authorities to Pakistan could not be utilized, particularly by private tour operators.

The Saudi official said the Hajj ministry had announced arrangements for this year’s pilgrimage at the end of last year’s Hajj season, emphasizing the importance of adhering to timelines for finalizing contracts and services. In meetings with Pakistan’s religious affairs ministry and private Hajj companies, it was agreed that all contracts would be completed according to the approved schedule.

“While Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs successfully completed all its pilgrims’ contracts without any notable challenges, a number of Pakistani [private] companies failed to finalize their pilgrims’ contracts within the designated time frame,” the Saudi official said.

“This has been observed in past seasons as well and resulted in the inability to complete entry procedures for these pilgrims to perform Hajj in the Kingdom.”

The Saudi official said it is working in “high-level coordination” with Pakistani authorities to complete Hajj arrangements.

Pakistan kicked off its Hajj flight operations on Tuesday morning with the first batch of 442 pilgrims departing from Islamabad for Madinah.