ISLAMABAD: Four officers of the Capital Development Authority (CDA) allegedly approved house building loans for employees amounting to Rs190 million in violation of rules and regulations.

After establishing the involvement of the four officers in the scam, a fact-finding committee recommended a formal inquiry.

The committee includes Deputy Financial Adviser Seed Akhtar Cheema, Director Security Fahim Badsha and Chaudhry Yaseen, the general secretary of the CDA Employees Union.

A source said the committee pointed out that last year Deputy Director Syed Kashif Shah, Admin Officer Syed Gulfam Shah and supporting staff Aftab Ahmed and Shahid Akram approved the loans for scores of employees last year without following rules and regulations.

As per rules, the CDA can release house building advance equivalent to the 48 basic salaries of an employee and Rs75,000 for the purchase of a motorcycle on seniority basis. Last year, the CDA had allocated Rs100 million for advance loans but the employees were doled out Rs190 million.

Fact-finding committee reccommends formal inquiry against accused

The source said the committee had reached the conclusion that rules and regulations were widely violated in the approval and distribution of the amount. It recommended a formal inquiry against the officers.

“Whenever we receive complaints, we hold a fact-finding inquiry to ascertain the veracity of the allegations,” he added.

“If we find any leads, we hold a formal inquiry. In this case, there are several leads which establish that the officers approved a large number of cases without following the rules,” said a CDA officer who requested not to be named.

He said there were clear leads which showed the officers approved the cases after receiving bribes. The sources said the CDA employees paid bribes to some CDA officers and union leaders to get their applications approved. On the other hand, those who followed the set rules have to wait for years to even get an advance for the purchase of a motorcycle.

The sources said the committee had forwarded its recommendations to CDA Chairman Maroof Afzal for ordering a formal inquiry. But dozens of such inquiries have already been pending for years.

CDA spokesman Ramzan Sajid said: “Following complaints, the authority had formed the fact-finding committee which has recommended a formal inquiry. But at this stage, I can’t share the findings of the committee.”

Asked about the delay in the completion of inquiries, he said: “We are pursuing all the pending inquiries, many of them have been completed while work is in process on the others.”

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2016