ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday suspected that a Rs35 million defaulter of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) might have staged his own kidnapping.

During the scrutiny of an audit report of the CDA accounts for fiscal year 2012-13, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) informed the PAC that the contractor of a car parking at the fruit and vegetable market was kidnapped for ransom soon after he defaulted on the payment of Rs35 million.

The FIA official said after the registration of an FIR against Malik Mumtaz, the contractor, for the default, he was kidnapped for ransom in 2013. The brother of the contractor later went to his native town of Mardan. According to the official, the contractor still remains untraced.

The audit authorities said the contractor was authorised to collect the parking fee at the vegetable market in 2011 but he did not deposit the Rs35 million with the CDA.

PAC Chairman Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah asked the FIA official whether it was a genuine kidnapping case or the contractor had gone into hiding to avoid arrest. The official replied that the FIA was conducting an inquiry into the matter.

Mr Shah directed the CDA chairman, Maroof Afzal, to recover the amount from the director of the directorate concerned of the civic agency and his staff whose negligence caused the loss to the national exchequer. He also asked the FIA to take the director into custody before the officer may also be ‘kidnapped’.

FIA informs meeting that contractor was ‘kidnapped’ for ransom after registration of a case against him for defaulting on Rs35m in 2013

The committee also took up a matter related to the allotment of 800 plots in Sector I-8 and 3,187 plots in other sectors. The CDA chairman told the committee that the matter was sub judice in the Supreme Court.

PAC member Sheikh Rohail Asghar said “when a matter goes to the court, we cannot proceed on it”. The committee was about to defer the audit para when Auditor General Akhtar Buland Rana pointed out that the apex court had never stopped the parliamentary forum from taking up the matter. He insisted that the PAC could examine sub judice matters as well.

Syed Naveed Qamar said, “We should follow the rules. If there is any bar, we should stop or proceed otherwise.”

The committee then sought the opinion of the law division. A law ministry representative informed the PAC that unless there was a restraining order, the committee can proceed on the matter.

On the insistence of some members, the PAC chairman constituted a sub-committee to examine the delay in the construction of a Parliament Lodges block.

Mian Abdul Manan said because of the delay in the construction of the block, he was currently living in a substandard place.

The audit authorities also pointed out that Bahria Town had encroached upon 2,000 kanal CDA land for its Bahria Enclave project . The CDA chairman told the committee that the civic agency had tried to retrieve the land but Bahria Town obtained a stay order from the Islamabad High Court (IHC). The PAC chairman asked him to engage competent lawyers to pursue the case.

Published in Dawn January 28th, 2015

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