ISLAMABAD: Five employees of the Capital Development Authority (CDA), who were suspended on the charges of corruption and mismanagement about three weeks ago, have been restored even before the completion of an inquiry.

The employees are also likely to get posting within a week because their case has been pushed by local politicians and the CBA union.

The five employees of the environment wing were suspended on September 30 over alleged embezzlement in awarding tenders worth Rs8.73 million.

It was alleged that the employees working in the directorate of parks invited four tenders without completing the required formalities. The tenders were neither advertised in leading newspapers nor posted on the PPRA and CDA websites in June this year.

“This is a violation of PPRA Rules-2004 but because of the pressure the top management of the CDA has restored the employees,” said an official of the human resource department.

The employees were suspended after a charge-sheet was presented to the chairman CDA by the environment wing. The accused were: the then deputy director (landscape) Asghar Ali Zardari, director parks Irfan Azim Khan, audit officer (environment) Safdar Saleem, divisional accounts officer Farhan Sikandar and cashier Farooq Butt. They gave an impression in the record that tenders were got advertised in the websites as per the PPRA Rules 2004.

“The charge-sheet formulated by the environment wing also stated that the officials had issued tenders to contractors of choice,” the official added.

The case was initiated by the member environment, Mustafain Kazmi, after receiving written complaints from other contractors. A committee, consisting of Khalida Parveen, the director audit, and Ejaz Siddiqui, another director, was formed to probe the allegations. However, the employees were restored by the HR department. The union officials, however, denied any involvement in the affairs.

“The union is to protect the rights of employees and we are not involved in anything to do with corruption cases, transfers or promotions,” said Chaudhry Yaseen, the general secretary of the CBA Union, CDA.

Published in Dawn, October 21st , 2014