A major recruitment scandal has surfaced in the Capital Development Authority (CDA), where appointments were allegedly obtained in blatant violation of established rules and procedures through the use of fake academic degrees, fake school leaving certificates, counterfeit driving licenses and falsified experience documents. The Anti-Corruption Circle of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Islamabad, has now filed a formal complaint against 58 former officers and employees – from scale 4 to scale 14, including senior technicians and sub-engineers – for fraud, deception, corruption and other related offences. The probe will also probe the involvement of 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 those who facilitated these irregular appointments. Two separate investigations were ongoing since 2022 in the Islamabad FIA Zone Anti-Corruption Circle regarding the induction of CDA personnel on the basis of fake academic degrees, fabricated experience and graduation certificates and falsified driving licenses. As a result of these investigations, carried out under the supervision of Deputy Director Afzal Khan Niazi, it was determined that the diplomas, certificates and driving licenses of 58 civil servants serving from basic scale 4 to scale 14 were allegedly falsified or otherwise fraudulent. Following these findings, FIA Islamabad Zone Director Shehzad Nadeem Bukhari authorized the registration of a formal case. As a result, charges were filed against former deputy engineer Muhammad Saghir; senior technicians Muhammad Saleem, Waqar Hussain, Amjad Ali and others; thirteen security agents including Manzoor Elahi; supervisor Safdar Hussain; nine drivers including Tahir Abbas; eight tubewell operators such as Muhammad Afzal; along with the baildars, elevator operators, naib qasids, clerks and the rest of the employees involved. Also among the accused are Sofia, a store employee, who worked as a store clerk, as well as security guard Ali Raza, assigned to the maintenance division of the CDA Presidential Secretariat. Additionally, the list of suspects includes senior technician of CDA Capital Hospital, Amjad Ali; Muhammad Akram, occupational therapy attendant; parish boy Malik Imtiaz; and two naib qasids, Muhammad Khan and Muhammad Nazir. The FIR further reveals that these appointments were made in violation of the provincial merit quota and were later regularized by the ADC 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 false documents.
Massive counterfeiting scam shakes CDA
