Major scam surfaces in Federal Treasury Office

ISLAMABAD:

Large-scale organised irregularities and a mega corruption scandal have been unearthed in the Federal Treasury Office (FTO) in Islamabad.

FIA's Anti-Corruption Circle has registered a case against 71 officers, officials and stamp vendors, including Senior Auditor Adil Maqbool, for causing a loss of Rs290 million to the national exchequer through stamp paper fees, court fees and foreign bill fraud. Twenty suspects have been arrested.

A crackdown led by Deputy Director FIA Anti-Corruption Circle Afzal Khan Niazi, with assistance from Islamabad Police, continued throughout the night.

According to officials, an inquiry — based on records from Aabpara Police Station — confirmed that FTO and DRA officials obtained stamp papers through fake and bogus licences and failed to deposit stamp fees, court fees and foreign bills into the treasury, inflicting a loss exceeding Rs290 million.

After approval from FIA Director Islamabad Zone Shehzad Nadeem Bukhari, a case was registered under PPC sections 109, 409, 420, 467, 471 and section 5(2)47 of PCA 1947. According to the FIR, 2,638 bogus TR-32 challans were issued using fake licences, causing a loss of Rs296,498,000 to the national exchequer.

FIA teams arrested 20 suspects—including Senior Auditor Adil Maqbool.