ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority’s (CDA) security directorate is investigating an official who allegedly impersonated a special magistrate, issued notices to shopkeepers and then disposed of charges against them after receiving ‘fines’.

Sources said the issue came to the notice of Senior Special Magistrate Ahmed Sohaib recently, and he wrote to the security directorate last week that he had found that an ex-reader unlawfully and without his permission issued a large number of fake summons and notices bearing a fake signature of the senior special magistrate.

The sources said the official disposed of these fake notices after being paid ‘fines’. They said around two dozen cases of suspected fraud have surfaced so far, and these are being investigated.

The accused disposed of these notices after being paid ‘fines’

“We have started an inquiry into this issue. We have several leads so far,” Director Security Faheem Badshah told Dawn.

Another security directorate official said businesspeople had submitted affidavits in the investigation stating that they were defrauded by the official.

He added that the official has denied any wrongdoing and claimed in his statement that someone else had issued the fake notices.

They will now record the businesspersons’ statements as well. The official added that this was a big scam, and the security directorate would share its findings from the completion of the probe with the CDA chairman for further action.

According to the affidavits, he said, some businesspeople said on oath that they were defrauded by the official. He added that the magistrate informed the security directorate of the alleged scam in writing himself.

“We are covering all aspects of this unique fraud case,” he said.

CDA officials Dawn spoke to said there were chances that several other officials were also involved in the scam. They said the authority should check the records of other directorates as well and look into where the CDA issues various receipts and no-objection certificates.

The official in question could not be reached for comment, but he denied all wrongdoing in his statement before the inquiry committee.

Published in Dawn, February 19th, 2019