Humble pie: Palm-greasing request leads to Senate smack

CDA officials ask minister’s relative for bribe, leading to threat of action from Senate

ISLAMABAD:

Capital Development Authority (CDA) officials will have to show their tightrope walking skills after a state minister informed the Senate that one of his relatives was asked for a bribe to get some work done.

A close relative of the minister had gone to the CDA office last week to clear a land-related issue.

The minister had apparently called the CDA chairman asking for his relative to be moved to the head of the line to avoid facing the traditional delays common citizens.

According to a source privy to the development, the chairman conveyed the message to his immediate subordinates, but junior officials at the estate office never got the message, and someone actually asked the relative for a bribe.

This infuriated the minister.

On Tuesday, CDA Member Planning Wasim Khan and CDA Member Engineering Shahid Sohail were among the officials who went to the minister’s chambers to brief him on CDA-related questions due for discussion in the Senate on Wednesday (yesterday).

“The minister straightforwardly refused to listen to the CDA officers, saying he even does not want to see their faces,” said a civic agency official who was part of the CDA team. Both CDA members attempted to calm down the minister, but in vain. “The members informed the chairman about the situation, who then also called the minister, but he refused to listen,” the official added.

One of the board members was eventually able to speak with the minister, who then explained what had happened.

On Wednesday, CDA-related questions were put before the Senate during question hour.

The minister informed the house that he had not been briefed by the CDA officers, nor were they present in the gallery to respond to the questions directly.

On these grounds, he said he was not prepared to properly answer the questions.

Later, he requested the senate chairman to move the matter in the privileges committee of the house, as officers’ absence was tantamount to breach of privilege. The request received a positive response from the chairman and the issue was referred to the committee.

The Express Tribune was unable to get a comment from the minister despite multiple attempts via telephone and text message.

CDA members Khan and Sohail both confirmed the incidents at the Senate when asked to comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2015.