A major recruitment scandal has emerged within the Capital Development Authority (CDA), where appointments were allegedly obtained in flagrant violation of laid down rules and procedures through the use of forged academic qualifications, fabricated school leaving certificates, forged driving licenses and forged experience documents. The Anti-Corruption Circle of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Islamabad, has filed a formal case against 58 former officials and employees (from Scale 4 to Scale 14, including senior technicians and sub-engineers) on charges of fraud, cheating, corruption and other related crimes. The investigation will also determine the involvement of the CDA officials responsible for the illegal recruitment and subsequent regularization of 24 patwaris appointed in violation of the provincial provisional quota, as well as the role of all persons who facilitated these irregular appointments. Since 2022, two separate investigations have been carried out within the FIA Islamabad Zone Anti-Corruption Circle into the induction of CDA personnel on the basis of forged academic degrees, forged experience and school completion certificates, and forged driving licences. At the end of these investigations, carried out under the supervision of Deputy Director Afzal Khan Niazi, it was determined that the educational credentials, certificates and driving licenses of 58 officials providing services from basic scale 4 to scale 14 were allegedly falsified or fraudulent. Following these findings, FIA Islamabad Zone Director Shehzad Nadeem Bukhari authorized 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 tubewell operators, such as Muhammad Afzal; as well as baildars, elevator operators, naib qasids, administrators and the rest of the employees involved. The accused also include a staff member, Sofia, who worked as a store clerk, along with security guard Ali Raza, posted at the CDA Maintenance Division of the President’s Secretariat. Additionally, the list of suspects includes a senior technician at CDA Capital Hospital, Amjad Ali; Assistant OT Muhammad Akram; neighborhood boy Malik Imtiaz; and two naib qasids, Muhammad Khan and Muhammad Nazir. The FIR further reveals that these appointments were made in contravention of the provincial merit quota and were subsequently regularized by the CDA administration. The investigation will now determine the responsibility of CDA officials and employees who facilitated the recruitment of these 58 individuals on the basis of falsified documents.
Mass counterfeiting scam shakes CDA
