RDA scam probe panel goes into hibernation

Committee becomes inactive after convenor proceeds on month-long US trip

RAWALPINDI:

A probe committee, constituted by the Director-General of the Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) to determine whether funds were transferred from the RDA's security account, was disbanded without producing a report. The matter was connected to a financial scandal involving a sum of Rs2 billion.

The convenor of the committee, Shehzad Nasir Gondal, Director of State Management, has been granted a one-month leave for a trip to the United States (US) and will report back to his parent department, the Local Government Department of Punjab, after his return. Consequently, the other two members of the committee have become effectively inactive.

According to reports, the probe committee was constituted by RDA DG, Kanza Mutaza, on July 15, 2025, to investigate the potential transfer of funds from the security account. Under the chairmanship of Shehzad Nasir Gondal, the committee was required to submit its report within seven days to the DG. The committee also included Jawad Arshad, Deputy Director of Engineering, and Waqar Asghar Raja, Assistant Director of Finance.

However, the committee was unable to begin its work for two months due to the unavailability of essential records. Ultimately, the committee came to an end this month when its convenor, Gondal, was granted leave for his month-long trip to the US, and he was relieved of his duties at RDA, with instructions to report to the LG Department upon his return.

Meanwhile, the high-level fact-finding committee, established by the Chief Secretary of Punjab in June 2025 to investigate the transfer of Rs2b from the RDA account via CDR to various companies and individuals, has still not finalised its report, even as the last week of September commences.

This fact-finding inquiry committee is chaired by Mudasir Waheed Malik, a member of the Punjab Board of Revenue, and includes Moazzam Iqbal Supra, Managing Director of the Punjab Government Servants Housing Foundation, and Madiha Tahir Shah, Additional Secretary of A&H. Despite conducting five to six sessions in Lahore, the committee has yet to complete its report.

It is noteworthy that the financial scandal at RDA, which had remained undetected for six years by senior officers with signature authority over financial matters—specifically the Director General of RDA and the Director of Finance—was uncovered in the second week of May this year.