Missing file: CDA chief told to lodge FIR against officials

ISLAMABAD: A Public Accounts Committee (PAC) panel on Friday directed the Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman to lodge an FIR against his subordinates over the disappearance of a file.

The PAC sub-committee also ordered an inquiry against CDA officials responsible for awarding the contract for the Diplomatic Shuttle Service to a contractor in violation of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules.

When the PAC sub-committee under the chair of MNA Shafqat Mahmood took up the case, related to an inquiry against CDA officials allegedly involved in awarding a contract of the Diplomatic Shuttle Services to a contractor, an audit official told the committee that the CDA awarded the contract at a nominal rate of Rs44,444 per annum and leased 4.5 acres to the contractor. He also recalled that earlier, the PAC had directed the CDA to initiate fresh bidding to ensure transparency in the award of the contract in accordance with PPRA rules, but the civic agency did not comply with the order. He said that the CDA also failed to furnish the original records of the contract to the audit team.

Earlier, the PAC had also ordered the sealing of the CDA record room and directed NAB and the FIA to probe the disappearance of the file.

When the audit official said that a probe body had cleared the case, Mehmood asked on what grounds the file was closed or cleared and sought a report in the next meeting. He also directed the CDA chairman to register an FIR over the missing file with the FIA so that those responsible could be prosecuted.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2016.