Illegal hiring scam rocks KDA

LG minister forms committee to probe into 'fraudulent recruitments'

KARACHI:

A major scandal of illegal recruitments has surfaced in the Karachi Development Authority (KDA), leading to the suspension of salaries for 53 employees, the suspension of five officers, including the Deputy Secretary and IT Program Officer, over alleged fake and suspicious appointments.

Director General KDA Syed Shujaat Hussain, under the directives of Sindh Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani, has formed a three-member committee to investigate the illegal recruitments.

The committee is chaired by Deputy Secretary Admin Syed Moinuddin Athar, with members including Deputy Director IT Syed Izhar-ul-Haq Hashmi and Accounts Officer Finance and Accounts Sohail Basit.

Meanwhile, sources have further revealed that an investigation into the records from the past two years has begun, after which previous records will also be scrutinized. Sources indicate that further revelations of hundreds of illegal appointments in KDA are expected.

Highly reliable sources have revealed that a major scandal of illegal recruitments through alleged forgery has come to light in KDA, with the possibility that hundreds of individuals were fraudulently hired in the authority.

Sources disclosed that corrupt officers in KDA allegedly recruited their relatives and people from their native villages in exchange for hefty bribes, with a former senior officer from the Finance Department being identified as the mastermind behind the entire scheme.

The exposure of the collusion between officers from the IT Department, Finance Department, and Secretariat has created an uproar within the organisation, with these officers now scrambling to protect the individuals they illicitly hired.

Internal sources within KDA revealed that the illegally hired employees were identified through fraudulent MR numbers.

According to sources, the DG KDA, Syed Shujaat Hussain, has refused to succumb to any pressure regarding the illegal appointments and has ordered the suspension of salaries for 53 suspiciously hired employees in the first phase.

Additionally, five officers suspected of involvement in illegal recruitments have been suspended, including Deputy Secretary Zafar Abbasi, IT Program Officer Noor Ahmed, Accounts Officer of Polyclinic Finance and Accounts Muhammad Jamil, Stenographer Bill Clerk Shakeel Ahmed, and Senior Audit Officer Finance Muhammad Yousuf.

The employees whose salaries have been suspended include Sanoobar Iqbal from the Computer Department, Khizra Afzal from the Lines Area Project, Abdul Wasi Siddiqui from Gulzar Hijri Engineering Department, Hina Aleem, Saima Adil, Syed Ibad Anwar Rizvi, Mah Reeb Imran, Owais Wahab, Dildar Ahmed from the P&UD Department, Kamran Ali from the APC Land, Ati Rehman from the Lines Area Project, Jamil Ahmed from Resettlement, Azeem Khalid from Malir Bund, among others.