Massive forgery scam rocks CDA

FIA books 58 former staff for securing appointments using forged credentials

RAWALPINDI:

A significant recruitment scandal has surfaced within the Capital Development Authority (CDA), where appointments were allegedly secured in flagrant violation of established rules and procedures through the use of forged academic qualifications, fabricated school-leaving certificates, counterfeit driving licences, and falsified experience documents.

The Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) Anti-Corruption Circle, Islamabad, has now filed a formal case against 58 former officers and employees — from Scale-4 to Scale-14, including senior technicians and sub-engineers — on charges of fraud, deception, corruption, and other related offences.

The inquiry will also ascertain the involvement of those CDA officials responsible for the unlawful recruitment and subsequent regularisation of 24 patwaris appointed in breach of the provincial provisional quota, as well as the role of all individuals who facilitated these irregular appointments.

Two separate inquiries had been ongoing since 2022 within the FIA Islamabad Zone's Anti-Corruption Circle concerning the induction of CDA personnel on the basis of forged academic degrees, fabricated experience and school-leaving certificates, and falsified driving licences.

Upon completion of these inquiries, conducted under the supervision of Deputy Director Afzal Khan Niazi, it was determined that the educational credentials, certificates, and driving licences of 58 officials serving from basic Scale-4 to Scale-14 were allegedly forged or otherwise fraudulent.

Following these findings, Director FIA Islamabad Zone, Shehzad Nadeem Bukhari, authorised the registration of a formal case.

Consequently, proceedings were initiated against former Sub-Engineer Muhammad Saghir; senior technicians Muhammad Saleem, Waqar Hussain, Amjad Ali, and others; thirteen security guards including Manzoor Elahi; Supervisor Safdar Hussain; nine drivers including Tahir Abbas; eight tube-well operators such as Muhammad Afzal; as well as baildars, lift operators, naib qasids, clerks, and the rest of the implicated employees.

The accused also include a female staff member, Sofia, who served as a store clerk, along with security guard Ali Raza, posted to the President's Secretariat CDA Maintenance Division. Additionally, the list of suspects features a senior technician at the CDA Capital Hospital, Amjad Ali; OT attendant Muhammad Akram; ward boy Malik Imtiaz; and two naib qasids, Muhammad Khan and Muhammad Nazir.

The FIR further discloses that these appointments were made in contravention of the provincial merit quota and were subsequently regularised by the CDA administration. The investigation will now determine the responsibility of the CDA officials and employees who facilitated the recruitment of these 58 individuals on the basis of forged documents.